By (Ret.) Turkish Staff Navy Captain Halil Özsaraç
The theoretical framework of region-shaping initiatives such as the Greater Middle East Project (BOP) of imperialism consists of realism based on the supremacy of geopolitics and power, as well as neoliberalism based on the interdependency of states.
While the imperialist establishment of the United States (US), European Union (EU), and NATO incite the idea that “democracies do not fight each other” to nation-states, they also use word games such as “liberal democracy” and “free market” systematically to dominate the whole world. The main task of the imperialist collaborative circles deployed in the nation-states is to instill the liberal concepts constructed by the imperialist centers into the public opinion of the nation-states. In the case of developing a strong opposition to neoliberalism and determination to fight imperialism within a nation-state, those circles counter with ideas in favor of imperialism.
These collaborative circles, which try to confuse the perceptions of a nation that intends to fight imperialism, methodically try to erode patriotism the most. Making the concept of homeland subordinate to the imperialist framework is a classic method of collaboration that has been going on for several centuries.
For instance, during the years of the Turkish War of Independence, an Ottoman Turkish journalist named Ali Kemal, who was one of the founders of “the Society for Friends of Britain” (Ingiliz Muhipleri Cemiyeti) and made his name in history through collaboration with imperialism, fabricated a new type of “patriotism” that cursed the anti-imperialist struggle of Turkish revolutionaries and served imperialist’s agenda and influence his audience in this way.
In the fierce days when the existential struggle of the Turkish nation against imperialism continued between 1919 and 1922, Ali Kemal penned unaccountable articles in the newspaper “Peyam-ı Sabah” as its editor-in-chief in parallel efforts with the imperialists.
Ali Kemal was chanting in his column, “What are we waiting for? I love my homeland by loving the British administration and justice! Why don’t we put a punch in the head of these (Kemalist) bandits who took refuge under the name of the National Forces? This nation does not want it! Hopefully, we will soon see the hammer of justice hit on their heads! Look at this bandit (Mustafa Kemal Atatürk) who acts under the name of the National Forces!”, and he kept writing stuff like these. Since he assumed that the Turkish revolutionary patriots would fail and imperialism would win, he had invested in favor of his imperialist masters.
The CHP and liberals, allergic to the Turkish naval concept “Blue Homeland”
About 2 weeks ago, when I heard that my beloved naval homeland, also known as Blue Homeland, was called “a fairy tale” by Namık Tan, who is the CHP’s (Republican Peoples’ Party) Member of Parliament (MP) and had been an ambassador for many years. For some reason, I think of Ali Kemal, who claimed that “the love of imperialist states is the love of the homeland”. That’s why I started to write my lines with Ali Kemal.
In the past, some military officers and university rectors, who defended Turkish national interests, were targeted by the CHP’s Namık Tan in social media posts saying “It was a shame”. It seems, he tried to attract public attention by posting a strange political outburst such as “Blue Homeland is a fairy tale!”. Due to he jeopardized his political career, liberal circles in the CHP had to advocate him in firsthand.
Through the Turkish newspaper “Aydinlik” on August 6, 2024, we read that a former undersecretary of trade in an embassy, a former consul-general, and a retired ambassador, Selim Kuneralp who introduced himself as a foreign policy expert, raved to prove that the concept of Blue Homeland is “a fairy tale” and “a folly” to exonerate the CHP’s Namık Tan.
Since these names mentioned by Aylinlik newspaper do not sound familiar to me, I tried to understand who they are by searching them on the web. I also learned that the retired ambassador, Selim Kuneralp who chants “Blue Homeland is an inconsistent narrative” by spinning the words out, is the grandson of Ali Kemal, the famous collaborator of imperialism who I just mentioned above.
From what I understand of his articles, he seems to be following in his grandfather’s footsteps. On the other hand, it should be acknowledged that these vague figures, who adopted the path of Ali Kemal, caused the concept of Blue Homeland to be more embraced in public opinion due to their ridiculous comments.
So, what really is the Blue Homeland, which the CHP and its liberal friends I mentioned above try to sell as a “fairy tale”?
Let me explain briefly: After the compilation of decades of institutional studies in the Turkish Naval Forces, the concept of Blue Homeland is the possible Turkish maritime jurisdiction areas, which were clarified under international law, were finalized as “minimal” in the Aegean Sea and “optimal” in other seas and presented to the Turkish public.
Since the concept was adopted by the Turkish nation, the Blue Homeland turned into a national ideal in a short time. On the other hand, the Blue Homeland, which depicts the future of Turkish naval rights, is also daring this national challenge to materialize. Because it will require a conflictual struggle due to it encounters the objections of the imperialist-backed Greek state.
As one can see, Blue Homeland has turned into a constant national objective, not only for the Turkish Navy but for the entire Turkish nation, even if its course is challenging. Because the genie is out of the bottle. Since its legal basis is absolutely solid in terms of international law, it is a lawful argument that impartial international legal experts agree on. Even though Greece and imperialist states bury their heads in the sand not to recognize it, it is a national and legal right for the Republic of Türkiye.
In shorter words, the Blue Homeland is a cause worth fighting and dying for. After all, it is an objective demanding to achieve but renouncing the Blue Homeland would be an absolute foolishness. Therefore, the imperialist establishment and its collaborators chant, “Give up the Blue Homeland!”, meaning, “Give your Blue Homeland away to Greece and imperialists to get rid of trouble!”. So, taking their proposals seriously is simply accepting to be a fool.
Desperation of Greece to recognize Turkish Blue Homeland
The only reason the CHP administration made a ridiculous statement to advocate themselves by saying, “Our MP’s words were misunderstood because they were cherrypicked” is that Blue Homeland is indeed an overstrong concept that will destroy whatever comes its way. On the other hand, the Blue Homeland frightens not only the CHP and Greece but also the imperialist Western states as hell. It is possible to understand this from the imperialist Western states’ descriptions of the Blue Homeland such as “passion”, “revisionism”, “discourse that increases tensions”, “expansionism” or “maximalism”.
Imperialists are not wrong to be afraid, because the Blue Homeland means unifying power for the Turkish nation, besides fully grasping the geopolitical power. Yes, the Turkish nation is united for the Blue Homeland, and this state of unification scares imperialism. For the reason it cannot tackle the vision of Blue Homeland alone, Greece has been inviting imperialist states to the region for a long time.
For instance, retired Greek Vice Admiral Alexandros Diakopoulos, a former national security adviser to the Greek Foreign Minister states in his article on 2022, “The dangerous precedent created by the Blue Homeland can resonate worldwide and fuel instability at other flashpoints in the seas.” In other words, the Greek Admiral drew attention to the potential of the Blue Homeland to ignite a great awakening in the Asian Seas and warned the imperialist West to take measures as soon as possible.
In my opinion, the Greek Admiral is not at all wrong in this predictive assessment, and the Blue Homeland may indeed be the source of an awakening in Asian waters. In his article, Vice Admiral Diakopoulos, who likens the Blue Homeland Doctrine to “the Nine Dash Map Doctrine”, which refers to the Chinese naval homeland in the South China Sea, states that it will not be enough for the imperialist West to fight China, they also must adopt a particular attitude that rejects the Turkish Blue Homeland borders and take action against it.
Ultimately, Greece invites the US and the EU to the Aegean Sea and the Eastern Mediterranean. On the other hand, although we do not take seriously the nonsensical comments of the CHP and pro-CHP liberals mentioned above, it is necessary to see that there is an operational slowdown at the (Turkish) government level in the materialization of the Blue Homeland.
Although the intellectual preparation and the time has already come, the Turkish government could not have taken action and officially announced the Blue Homeland doctrine. It seems to be due to the reluctance of the AK Party (Justice and Development Party) administration to make the sparks fly with imperialism on the subject of Blue Homeland.
Then, let us put it this way about Blue Homeland: The hard part of the work, which is its transformation into action, is the share and responsibility of the Vatan Party’s revolutionary cadres.
Translation by Yunus Emre Özgün.