Turkey’s new defense minister vows to protect ‘Blue Homeland’
Turkey’s newly-appointed Defense Minister Yasar Guler has vowed to protect his country’s interests and the “Blue Homeland,” a revisionist doctrine expressing Ankara’s expansionist ambitions in the Aegean.
Taking over the ministry from Hulusi Akar following the May 28 re-election of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Guler said that he will “ensure peace and security in our country’s territory, as well as in the Blue Homeland and in the homeland of our skies.”
“We will work tirelessly to defend the rights and interests of our country, as they stem from international law,” Guler, 69, added at the handover ceremony on Monday.
The chief of general staff of the Turkish armed forces, Guler headed Turkey’s military incursions into Syria in 2019 and 2020, and oversaw subsequent military operations there and in Iraq.
