The 'Blue Homeland' bill against the Megali Idea

The Grand National Assembly of Turkey has the "Blue Homeland Bill" on its agenda. As a Turk born in Rhodes, I believe that this Bill, which is based on the "Blue Homeland Doctrine," is also a clear stance by Turkey against the Megali Idea.

In this context, the bill will also serve as an indicator of pushing back against the cultural genocide being practiced against Turks living in Western Thrace, as well as in Rhodes and Kos.

What is the Megali Idea?

Meaning "Great Idea" or "Great Ideal" in Greek, it is an expansionist Greek nationalist ideology that aims to establish a great Hellenic state with its center in Istanbul (Constantinople) within the borders of the former Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire.

Its goal was to expand Greece over the former Eastern Roman lands from the Ionian Sea in the West to Anatolia and the Black Sea in the East, and from Thrace, Macedonia, and Epirus in the North to Crete and Cyprus in the South.

What are the practices of the Megali Idea?

• The Turkish-Muslim genocide that began in the Morea and Crete and continued into Eastern Thrace, which lies at the foundation of the establishment of Greece

• Their landing in Anatolia on May 15, 1919, by having the imperial countries of the period use them as a battering ram, causing the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Turks

• The cultural genocide practices they have applied against Turks living in Western Thrace, as well as in Rhodes and Kos (*)

• Supporting the separatist Kurdish movement, the PKK, for years

• The genocide practices carried out by the EOKA organization against Turkish Cypriots in Cyprus

• Allegations of a so-called Pontic Greek Genocide

• Greece's militarization of the islands, violating their non-military (disarmed) status established by the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne and the 1947 Paris Peace Treaty

• In recent years, the Greek Cypriot Administration of Southern Cyprus (GCASC), alongside Greece, has been in a serious armament process. It is engaging in military cooperation with Israel. Finally, missile shipments in India are also noteworthy. With the US lifting its arms embargo on Southern Cyprus, the opportunity has arisen for the Greek administration to purchase weapons directly from the US government

And Greece's desire to include the entire Aegean (Islands) Sea within its own territorial waters after its accession to the EU.

Let's look at the territorial waters and continental shelf issue arising from the Aegean Sea in Turkish-Greek relations

Today, the width of Turkish and Greek territorial waters in the Aegean Sea is 6 nautical miles. In contrast, Greece is demanding that its territorial waters be extended to 12 nautical miles.

Greece's demand to extend its territorial waters to 12 nautical miles would disproportionately disrupt the balance of interests in the Aegean Sea to Turkey's disadvantage.

In the current situation, Greece's territorial waters make up 40 percent of the Aegean Sea. With the extension of territorial waters to 12 nautical miles, this rate would rise to 70 percent. In this case, Turkey's territorial waters in the Aegean Sea would remain below 10 percent.

The issue of the Continental Shelf came to the agenda in the early 1960s when Greece began oil exploration and seismographic research in the Aegean Sea.

Turkey stated that the region where the research was to be conducted was within the Turkish continental shelf because it is a natural extension of the Anatolian lands extending westward under the sea, and that this also applies to islands close to the Anatolian coasts. This is how the problem between the two countries began.

The main subject of the debate between the two countries regarding the continental shelf is the limitation of areas beyond the 6 nautical miles of territorial waters.

What does the "Blue Homeland" Bill include?(**)

• The "Blue Homeland" doctrine includes the assertion that we have sovereign rights, just as we do on our land, over the territorial waters, continental shelf, Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), contiguous zone, and the islands, islets, and rocks whose ownership has not been explicitly transferred to Greece—estimated to number 152—in the seas surrounding Turkey.

• The "Blue Homeland" doctrine adopts the 6-mile territorial water width in the Aegean and 12-mile width in the Black Sea and Mediterranean, which Turkey accepts today. A 12-mile territorial water width is the international norm according to the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Although Turkey is not a party to the convention, it accepts 12-mile territorial waters as the norm for the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. In the Aegean, however, it categorically opposes extending territorial waters beyond 6 miles due to the special structure of that sea.

• The "Blue Homeland" doctrine rejects the provision accepted by UNCLOS that natural islands that are inhabited and suitable for economic activity also have continental shelves and EEZs, just like landmasses.

• The "Blue Homeland" doctrine holds that Turkey has continental shelf and EEZ areas in the Aegean and Mediterranean that extend beyond islands that do not belong to Turkey. The "Blue Homeland" considers these regions as part of the homeland.

• The "Blue Homeland" doctrine considers all islands, islets, and rocks not explicitly mentioned in the Lausanne and Paris treaties, other than the North Aegean Islands and the Dodecanese left to Greece, and their surrounding territorial waters, as part of the homeland.

In summary, as I mentioned above, I believe that the "Blue Homeland Bill" will not only be handled as a clear stance against the still-ongoing Megali Idea of Greece, but will also be an indicator of pushing back against the cultural genocide being practiced against Turks living in Western Thrace, as well as in Rhodes and Kos.

One final word. Of course, friendship between Turks and Greeks on both sides of the Aegean on a permanent and egalitarian basis is a desired matter. However, it is not possible to ignore the opposition, or more clearly, the hostility that the Greek State is trying to develop against Turkey.

(*) The Greek State is implementing a cultural genocide policy aimed at ethnically and culturally destroying the Turks living in Greece. The "Turkish" minority is referred to as "Muslim." In this context, the problems of the Turks living in Rhodes and Kos are more dire than those of the Turks living in Western Thrace.

The island Turks have problems such as citizenship, the right to learn Turkish, religious worship, an environment of hatred and pressure, foundations, and the protection of the cultural heritage left by the Ottoman Turks.

In the struggle for rights of the Western Thrace Turks, there are organizations in Turkey called the "Western Thrace Turks Solidarity Association (BTTDD)" and in Europe called the "Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF)."

There is almost no cultural organization for the Turks of Rhodes and Kos on the islands. They cannot express their Turkish identities. Fear is rampant among the island Turks. For this reason, the "Rhodes, Kos, and Dodecanese Turks Culture and Solidarity Association (ROİSDER)," established in Turkey, carries out work in line with the island Turks' struggle for rights in the national and international arena and organizes events to create awareness in international organizations such as the United Nations, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the Council of Europe, and the Federal Union of European Nationalities (FUEN).

(**) Cem Gürdeniz, the namesake of the Blue Homeland, expressed the nature of the draft law in his article "Blue Homeland and Maritime Jurisdiction Law" as follows: "Instead of a law that would form the basis for state practice outside the territorial waters of Turkey, which is not a signatory to UNCLOS, there is scattered legislation (Council of Ministers decisions, continental shelf coordinate declarations, NAVTEX practices, fisheries regulations, and fragmented practices spread across the jurisdictions of different institutions). The existence of a holistic law that gathers these under a single strategic roof will have a force-multiplier effect on our sovereignty practices in our maritime jurisdiction areas, which are at the forefront of our geopolitical areas of interest. This situation will prevent the opposing front from transforming its own theses into EU law, energy licensing, national legislation, and international corporate networks. For example, the GCASC is distributing license areas to international energy companies, Greece is activating EU institutions, forming energy consortia, and creating its own legal ecosystem in the Eastern Mediterranean despite Turkey. In other words, this legislation, which will be enacted as domestic law, will provide consolidation in our sovereign areas." (See: Gürdeniz, C., 2026. Blue Homeland and Maritime Jurisdiction Law. https://dagarcikturkiye.com/2026/06/01/mavi-vatan-ve-deniz-yetki-alanlari-yasasi/)