‘The Blue Homeland is for us’: Cypriot MEPs excoriate Turkey

Cypriot members of the European Parliament on Thursday took to the Strasbourg chamber’s floor to offer terse criticism for Turkey’s actions in the eastern Mediterranean, with Diko’s Costas Mavrides declaring that the “Blue Homeland”, the name given to Turkey’s maritime claims, is “for us”. “Escalations in both the eastern Mediterranean and Aegean seas follow persistent Turkish provocations, with the latest, as has already been said, the so-called neo-Ottoman blue fantasy … I don’t call it the Blue Homeland. The Blue Homeland is for us,” Mavrides said. He added that Turkey is also guilty of “the continuing occupation, as you know very well, of EU territory in Cyprus, the violation of air and maritime sovereign rights of two member states”, Cyprus and Greece. He said that the EU has been following an “appeasement policy” with regard to Turkey, and declared that that policy “does not work”. Related Articles • Fitto: without Cyprus solution East Med de-escalation impossible • MEPs to debate ‘persistent Turkish provocations’ in eastern Mediterranean “Soft wording and a so-called positive agenda towards Turkey do not work. What does work? Well, we tried. We tried on Russia. Economic and political sanctions against an aggressor and occupier,” he said. He then asked the European Commission’s Cyprus problem envoy Raffaele Fitto, who was present for the day’s plenary session, whether he can “explain to the European citizens of not only Cyprus and Greece, but all the European citizens, why we impose sanctions on Russia, the aggressor – rightly so – but not on Turkey”. Turkey, he said, is “the occupier and aggressor and violator of [the United Nations convention on the law of the sea], European law, and so many others”. Fourlas: Turkey is behaving like a pirate Disy MEP Loucas Fourlas, meanwhile, said that the Republic of Cyprus has in the space of three months “recorded 520 aerial and 23 maritime violations conducted by Turkey”, and said that despite this, “here we are, still debating whether and how Europe will react”. “How many violations does it take for Europe to finally realise there is a problem? If this were happening in Germany, Italy, or Spain, would you accept it? In Estonia?” he asked. Loucas Fourlas: Turkey is behaving like a pirate He then told Fitto to “take notes because this list is very long”, before saying that “Turkey is behaving like a pirate in the eastern Mediterranean”. “It challenges the sovereign rights of member states, it threatens casus belli, it violates airspace and territorial waters, it interferes with European energy projects, it harasses passenger aircraft, and continues to maintain occupying troops in Cyprus,” he said. On this front, he then asked Fitto whether Cyprus and Greece are “lesser Europe”. “I am asking because this is how you treat us. I am not here to ask for anything more than that to which every European citizen is entitled – the right to security,” he said. He was then asked by German MEP Lukas Sieper, of centrist Eurogroup Renew, whether he believes that the EU should “draw a line in the sand and tell Turkey [that] if they continue with all these different politics that hurt European values that hurt European values, that we will end the accession process”, given that Turkey is still, officially, an EU candidate country. Sieper’s question was based on what he described as a “very hostile act” undertaken by the Turkish government against LGBT people, following operations leading to the arrest of more than 150 people across Turkey which the country’s Justice Minister Akin Gurlek said was aimed at cracking down on “obscenity” and “prostitution”, but opposition figures said amounted to “anti-LGBT raids”. ‘Anyone who disagrees with Erdogan’s regime ends up behind bars’ In response, Fourlas said that “if you visit Turkey, you will see that the prisons are filled with people who are different”, and that “there is hardly a writer or poet left who has not been imprisoned, and anyone who disagrees with [Turkish President Recep Tayyip] Erdogan’s regime ends up behind bars”. “Respect for human rights is a concept which Turkey completely disregards, and yet we continue to discuss whether it should become part of our European family and join the security programme which is intended to protect us. This is a glaring example of hypocrisy,” he said. Akel MEP Giorgos Georgiou, meanwhile, spoke on the matter of the Blue Homeland doctrine, saying that it “poses a massive threat to Turkey’s neighbours”. “Turkey is acting in flagrant violation of the law in the Aegean and the eastern Mediterranean,” he said, before listing actions taken by Turkey in the region in recent years. Geadi says Turkey ‘funds terrorist organisations’ Elam’s Geadis Geadi said that the Turkish government “funds terrorist organisations” and maintains “an occupying army on European soil”, and that despite this, “some insist on calling it a partner”. “Enough with the charade. Greece does not need expressions of sympathy. Cyprus does not need resolutions which end up gathering dust in drawers. What is needed are substantive actions, sanctions, and strength, for that is the only language Turkey understands,” he said. Geadis Geadi: Turkey funds terrorist organisations He added that “as long as Europe refuses to defend itself, its members, and its borders, it will not deter Turkish expansionism, but instead reward it”. “We are not the ones saying this, they are advertising it themselves in metro stations we fund with European money, where they display maps depicting areas of Greece, Syria, Iraq, Georgia, and the entirety of Cyprus as Turkish territory,” he said. “If economic interests involving Turkey matter more than so-called European solidarity, you should at least have the courage to say so publicly”.