Turkey’s main opposition CHP has made a fresh intervention over the “Blue Homeland” doctrine, calling for proposed legislation on maritime jurisdiction zones to include explicit references to the eastern Mediterranean, an exclusive economic zone (EEZ), and disputed islets and rocky outcrops in the Aegean.

CHP deputy chairman Yanki Bagcioglu called on the Turkish government to immediately declare an EEZ in the eastern Mediterranean, insisting that such a move was necessary.

“The EEZ must definitely be declared,” he said.

In a written statement on the proposed “Law on Maritime Jurisdiction Zones”, Bagcioglu said Turkey needed a unified legal framework that would incorporate Ankara’s core positions in both the Aegean and eastern Mediterranean.

He also called for the resumption of Turkish natural gas and oil exploration and drilling activities in the eastern Mediterranean, arguing that there had been a “pause” in such operations since 2020.