Turkish Admiral: Demarcation of maritime borders will lift the blockade on Gaza

Retired Turkish Admiral Jihad Yayci: If the export of oil and gas to Israel stops immediately, the war will stop within 3 days (Al Jazeera)

ISTANBUL – Jihad Yayci, a former admiral, held important positions in the Turkish Navy, including former Chief of Staff of the Navy, and his ideas and theses have influenced Turkey's maritime law and diplomacy and led to very important changes.

After leaving the army, the admiral founded a think tank called the Turkish Maritime and Global Strategy Center, and on the other hand, he began working as a lecturer at Topkapi University in Istanbul, with a professorship.

An important thesis produced by Jihad is the concept of the "blue homeland", which states that maritime zones are strategic areas that are indispensable for states, just like land lands, and this concept has found its place in Turkish foreign policy and the education system.

Another important thesis is the idea that sea-neighbouring states can reap significant strategic gains through the agreement they make among themselves, which has been dubbed the "maritime delimitation agreement."

Turkey has implemented this thesis in Libya, through the agreement it signed in 2019, and all balances in Libya and the Mediterranean have suddenly changed.

Jihad Yayji says in this interview with Al Jazeera Net that the conclusion of the agreement to demarcate the maritime borders in the Gaza Strip will change many balances in the Israeli-Palestinian war.

The following is the text of the interview:

A previous stand organized by the "International Campaign to Break the Siege on the Gaza Strip" inside the Gaza port yard (Anatolia)

• You say that there is a way for Turkey to intervene in what is happening in Gaza, and you propose to conclude an agreement similar to the agreement that Ankara concluded with Libya, with Gaza, can you clarify this proposition?

I had a thesis that says "Turkey is Libya's neighbor from the sea", and I concluded the agreement with Libya in 2019 based on this thesis already, and its full name is "Agreement on the Delimitation of Maritime Jurisdictions".

This means that if events in a neighbouring country by land interest us, events in our neighbouring country across the sea matter to us equally, and this agreement formed an international legal basis that enabled Turkey to provide logistical support to Libya.

• Is it now proposing that Turkey conclude the same agreement with Gaza?

If you look from the city of Antalya with a binoculars, you can see Gaza directly, and if you draw a line, it will go to Gaza without touching Cyprus.

I prepared this map, extracted sea coordinates, wrote the texts of the agreement, and presented it to Palestinian officials in 2020, very similar to the agreement with Libya.

If this agreement were concluded, the Palestinian maritime zone would be 20 times larger than the Gaza Strip maritime zone now, and it already has large oil and gas reserves.

Turkey announces the arrival of a ship loaded with medical aid to Egypt last November for Gaza (Anatolia)

• But Gaza is not an independent state, so how will the agreement be concluded with it?

It will be concluded with President Mahmoud Abbas, who represents the State of Palestine. Because the State of Palestine consists of two parts; the territories of the West Bank and the territories of Gaza. There is self-administration in the Strip; but in terms of international law, the Abbas regime represents Gaza.

• What will Palestine gain from this agreement?

First, Palestine will acquire an 8,500-square-kilometer maritime zone under this agreement. Currently, Gaza has a very small maritime zone, and Israel does not even allow it to fish, let alone search for oil.

Why not allow? Because it plans to invade Gaza one day and extract the oil and gas that is there itself. Another advantage for Palestine is that it will have a legal basis to provide logistical support to it from Turkey.

However, the most important gain is that if, God forbid, Gaza is occupied by Israel one day, this agreement will be a legal document proving that the coasts of the Gaza Strip belong to Palestine, that this area belongs to the Palestinian people, and that future Palestinian generations and their children will be able to document their legal ownership of this maritime strip, and that the oil, gas and fish that will come out of it are their stolen rights.

Just as Azerbaijan resisted for the occupied Karabakh territories for 33 years, when it found the opportunity it recovered its territory, and it did so thanks to legal documents, and Palestine will also have such a legal document.

• Could this agreement be the basis for the lifting of the blockade of Gaza in the future at the United Nations or in the international sphere?

Certainly, because Israel cannot impose a blockade and prevent Palestine from extracting oil, natural gas and fish in its maritime area, and this area will be under Palestinian sovereignty, and the text of the agreement will be a test that can reveal Israel's lawless position, aggression and brutality.

• Will Egypt object to this agreement?

No, you will not object. Because this agreement, if it signs, will give Egypt an additional maritime zone of 15,1 square kilometers, equivalent to 5.<> times the size of the island of Cyprus.

• But Israel will object, right?

Yes, you'll object, but if you think carefully, it's an opportunity for them as well. If Israel also signs a similar agreement with Turkey, its maritime area will expand by 5,<> kilometers compared to its agreement with the Greek Cypriot administration (the internationally recognized Republic of Cyprus). In fact, Israel was losing in the agreement it struck with Greek Cyprus.

• How did the Turkish state receive its proposal?

As far as I know, the Turkish state submitted the proposal for this agreement that I am talking about to the administration of Mahmoud Abbas in Antalya. But I think the Abbas administration didn't see it fit; now we see that the world can do nothing to stop this genocide in Gaza, unless the United States and Israel want to.

Economically, Arab countries could have done something about the oil embargo, but four countries did not accept Turkey's proposal on this issue: the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Morocco. So, if you ask "what can Turkey do for Gaza," the most important step to break the rules of the game could be this agreement.

• As a former soldier, how do you see the course of the Gaza war, and what can be done in the future?

Israel will occupy a large part of Gaza, if not all. The most important obstacle to this is the population of Palestine, and Gaza must in no way be evacuated. There is a verse in Surat Al-Ma'idah 64 of the Holy Qur'an that says, "Whenever they light a fire for war, God extinguishes it" (referring to the Jews), and I am confident that God Almighty will extinguish this fire, and the condition is that we resist and be together.

There are a few things we can do:

• First, Turkey must sign the agreement I mentioned with Gaza.
• Second, we must implement a ban on the export of oil and natural gas immediately, as the late Saudi King Faisal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud did in 1973, when this war will stop within 3 days, and Western economies will be paralyzed.
• Third, Syrian airspace must be closed to Israel, and we must do so to prevent Israel's expansionist policies. Russia can close this airspace. As you know, Syrian airspace is closed to Turkey, so why is it open to Israel?

Turkey and Qatar, which are fighting more than any other country for the cause of Palestine, should issue this call. This initiative will show the whole world that Russia is not the country that defends Syria's territorial integrity, and that it does not close its airspace to Israeli aircraft.

• You say in your talks that other countries, too, are in danger because of the Gaza war, how is that?

Israel implements the dream of the "Promised Land" as a policy, meaning that it wants part of the territory of Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Egypt. If you observe the field, you will see that Israel is implementing this thesis step by step.

US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have said that when the aircraft carriers arrive, the borders in the Middle East will be redrawn. The stakes are really great, and we all have to be on alert.

Therefore, if we all move together and resist, Palestine will gain its independence, and Israel's expansionist policy and the "Promised Land" theory will collapse as well.

Source : Al Jazeera