Turkish defense firm refers to ‘Blue Homeland’ in connection with drone missile test
Baykar, the Turkish defense contractor run by the son-in-law of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Selcuk Bayraktar, has referred to Ankara’s controversial expansionist doctrine in a press release hailing a firing test at sea with its newly developed “Bayraktar Akinci” unarmed combat aerial vehicle, saying it “showcased its impact in the Blue Homeland.”
“Having taken off from the Akinci Flight Training and Test Center in Corlu, Tekirdag with mini smart munitions and ASELFLIR-500, Bayraktar Akinci struck a fixed naval target from an altitude of 30,000 feet with MAM-T munitions during the test’s initial stage. During the second phase, the indigenous UCAV destroyed an Albatros USV, which was cruising at sea, from the same altitude. Bayraktar Akinci’s successful performance in firing tests against naval targets showcased its impact in the Blue Homeland,” the company said in an announcement published on its website earlier this week.
The reference to the “Blue Homeland” doctrine, which is seen as challenging Greek sovereignty over the Aegean islands by envisioning large swathes of the Mediterranean under Turkish influence, came just days after Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis was due to travel to Turkey for talks with Erdogan.
It also came in the wake of other signs of a shift in Ankara’s mood towards Greece, which recently experienced a thaw after a protracted period of elevated tensions, such as Monday’s formal inauguration by Erdogan of a Byzantine-era church that Turkey has converted into a mosque.
