Ahead of talks aimed at sorting out rights to the seas in the East Mediterranean and Aegean around Greek islands, Turkey's Presidency put out a video pumping up its Blue Homeland doctrine of claiming Greek waters.
The video starts with a scene of two children being informed by military officers that their father was “martyred,” before turning to a narration of Turkey’s naval history, from 16th century privateer Barbarossa Hayreddin Pasha to the modern Turkish Navy, without mentioning any Turkish defeats in battles.
Director of Communications Fahrettin Altun tweeted that the video and a nationalist anthem were prepared for the the anniversary of the 1538 naval battle of Preveza in which the Ottoman fleet defeated that of a Christian alliance assembled by Pope Paul III.
Altun, who shared the video on social media, also tweeted the following lines of the anthem: “Oh world! Listen to me, I am the son of a martyr, of a homeland with the crescent-star, the blood of my ancestors flows through my veins, we die and take lives for the blue homeland.”
In the same video, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan can be heard reciting verses from Arif Nihat Asya’s poem Bayrak” (Flag) said Kathimerini.
Marking the 98th anniversary on Aug. 30 of Turkey booting Greece from Asia Minor, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan used the occasion to step up warnings he will take what he wants in the Aegean and East Mediterranean where Greece is trying to stop his ships from hunting for oil and gas.
Blue Homeland is an expansionist strategy to claim waters and resources in the East Mediterranean and Aegean controlled by Greece and other countries.
The plan envisions Turkey taking over several Greek islands where hundreds of thousands of Greek citizens live: seizing or invading Greek territory as Erdogan said he covets return of Greek islands ceded in the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne he won't recognize.