Blue Homeland doctrine planted in Turkish schools
The Turkish Education Ministry’s “Century of Turkey” program has received final approval, which means that the “Blue Homeland” (Mavi Vatan) doctrine regarding Ankara’s maritime claims in the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean now has a place in the school textbooks of the neighboring country. Turkey’s Education Minister Yusuf Tekin approved the project and it has already been published on the ministry website.
More specifically, the subject of geography for ninth-graders (14-year-olds) will, according to the new program, emphasize “the importance of Turkey’s location characteristics” while discussions of maps will be held related to the Blue Homeland and the “Homeland in the Skies.”
“The value of patriotism will be emphasized by including Turkey’s justified struggle against demands that ignore its legal and geographical rights in the Sea of Islands [i.e. the Aegean Sea] and the Eastern Mediterranean. The importance of Cyprus for Turkey and the Turkish world will be mentioned,” the program stated.
Subsequently, for students in 10th-grade geography (15-year-olds), “the reasons why Turkey is not a party to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and its rights in international waters today and in the future will be explained.”
It also noted that “the water supply project with the TRNC [Turkish-occupied northern Cyprus] may be explored.”
The 10th- and 11th-grade lessons “will emphasize Turkey’s historical ties and sociocultural relations with the Turkish states in Turkestan and with the TRNC.”
“As part of this process,” it is stated, “virtual trips can be made to the countries that fall within the heart and spread of Turkish culture.”
Meanwhile, the Turkish opposition is pressing the government to pursue a tougher foreign policy in the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean.
The deputy chairman of the CHP, Turkey’s largest opposition party, Yanki Bagcioglu, is insisting that gray zones in the Aegean, demilitarized Greek islands, drilling rigs in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Blue Homeland must return to the agenda. “Turkey should fully and effectively exercise its rights under international law with its naval and air forces in the Aegean Sea and the Eastern Mediterranean without any restrictions on the ground,” he said.
