A few hours ago, Erdogan confirmed the steady course of the axis of revisionism that the doctrine of the Blue Homeland stands for.
Speaking at an MIT birthday event, Recep Tayyip Erdogan said specifically:
"We are bravely defending our nation's interests at the right time, with the right steps, both in diplomacy and in the military field. Our military operations in northern Syria are a clear example of this. Our ongoing operations in northern Iraq are an example of this. After almost 30 years of occupation, together with our Azerbaijani brothers, we have achieved the freedom of Karabakh. Our support for the legitimate government of Libya, with which we have ancient ties, is one of these proofs. Our strong will to protect our 'Blue Homeland' from the Aegean to the Black Sea and the Eastern Mediterranean is one of these examples. It is possible to increase the number of these examples".
That Turkey, especially at sea, has not changed its approach is also evident from the data on violations of Greece's territorial waters.
According to the official data of the General Staff of the National Defence Staff, while air violations essentially stopped in 2023, violations in territorial waters continued as usual last year, thus confirming the view of military sources that this is a communicative attitude of Ankara trying to gain impressions. In August in particular, they increased to 224!
It is characteristic that while in 2022 the Turkish navy and coast guard vessels recorded 1581 violations of Greek territorial waters, in the past year they made 1568 violations. Without adding to this number the one in December. Which, given that we had more than 100 violations every month, would mean that the Turks increased their violations at sea in 2023, while they reduced them to zero for the eyes of the world and some well-wishers in the air.
So it would be good for those who want to talk about calm in Greek-Turkish relations to avoid the expression "calm waters" and not only look up to the sky but also down and in this case to the sea because otherwise there is a visible risk that many issues related to national security planning will end up in a "shipwreck".
