Selcuk Bayraktar, chairman of Turkish defense company Baykar and son-in-law of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said Thursday that Turkey would not make concessions over its maritime claims, invoking Ankara’s “Blue Homeland” doctrine during a speech at the Teknofest Blue Homeland technology festival.
Bayraktar said Turkey had a land area of about 783,000 square kilometers and described its maritime jurisdiction zones as the “Blue Homeland,” covering 462,000 square kilometers.
“To put it clearly, if our homeland on land is our home, then the ‘Blue Homeland’ is our garden, where we find our peace,” he said.
Bayraktar stressed that Turkey would not give up any part of its maritime claims.
“Just as we cannot give up any room in our house, we will never give up even a drop of the ‘Blue Homeland,’ which is our garden,” he said.
