Istanbul- Cihat Yaycı, a former admiral, held important positions in the Turkish Navy, including the former Chief of Staff of the Naval Forces. His ideas and theses had an impact on maritime law and diplomacy in Turkey, and led to very important changes.
After leaving the ranks of the army, the admiral founded an intellectual center called the Turkish Maritime and Global Strategies Center. On the other hand, he began working as a lecturer at Topkapi University in Istanbul, and he holds the rank of professor.
One of the important theses produced by Jihad is the concept of the “Blue Homeland,” which states that maritime areas are indispensable strategic areas for states, just like land lands, and this concept has found its place in Turkish foreign policy and education system.
Another important thesis is the idea that neighboring countries at sea can reap great strategic gains through the agreement they conclude among themselves, which is called the “Agreement on the Delimitation of Maritime Powers.”
Turkey applied this thesis in Libya, through the agreement it signed in 2019, and suddenly all the balances in Libya and the Mediterranean changed.
Jihad Yayji says in this interview with Tel Aviv Tribune Net that concluding an agreement to demarcate the maritime borders in the Gaza Strip will change many of the balances in the Israeli-Palestinian war.
The following is the text of the interview:
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You say that there is a way for Turkey to intervene in what is happening in Gaza, and you propose concluding an agreement similar to the agreement that Ankara concluded with Libya, with Gaza. Can you clarify this proposal?
I had a thesis that said, “Turkey is Libya’s neighbor from the sea.” The agreement was concluded with Libya in 2019 based on this thesis, and its full name is the “Agreement on the Delimitation of Maritime Powers.”
This means that if events in a country neighboring us by land concern us, then events in the country neighboring us by sea concern us to the same extent, and this agreement formed an international legal basis that enabled Turkey to provide logistical support to Libya.
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Are you now proposing that Türkiye conclude the same agreement with Gaza?
If you look from the city of Antalya using binoculars, you can see Gaza directly, and if you draw a line; He will go to Gaza without touching Cyprus.
I prepared this map, extracted the sea coordinates, wrote the texts of the agreement, and presented it to Palestinian officials in 2020, and it is very similar to the agreement with Libya.
If this agreement is concluded, the Palestinian maritime area will be 20 times larger than the Gaza Strip’s maritime area now, and it already contains large oil and gas reserves.
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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 West Bank and Gaza territories. There is self-management in the sector; But in terms of international law, the Abbas regime represents Gaza.
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What gains will Palestine gain from this agreement?
First, Palestine will obtain a maritime area of 8,500 square kilometers under this agreement. Currently, Gaza has a very small sea area, and Israel does not even allow it to fish, let alone search for oil.
Why don’t you allow? Because it plans to invade Gaza one day and extract the oil and gas there itself. Another advantage for Palestine is that it will have a legal basis for providing logistical support to it from Turkey.
However, the most important gain is that if Gaza, God forbid, is occupied by Israel one day, this agreement will be a legal document proving that the coasts of the Strip belong to Palestine, and that this area belongs to the Palestinian people, and future Palestinian generations and their children will be able to document their legal ownership of this area. The marine strip, and that the oil, gas and fish that will come out of it are their rights that were stolen.
Just as Azerbaijan resisted for the occupied lands of Karabakh for 33 years, and when it found the opportunity, it regained its lands, and it did so thanks to legal documents, and Palestine will also have such a legal document.
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Could this agreement be a basis for lifting the siege on Gaza in the future in 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.
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Will Egypt object to this agreement?
No, you will not object. Because this agreement, if it signs it, will grant Egypt an additional maritime area of 15,000 square kilometers, equivalent to 1.5 times the area of the island of Cyprus.
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But Israel will object, right?
Yes, you will object, but if you think carefully, this will be an opportunity for them as well. If Israel also signs a similar agreement with Turkey, its maritime area will expand by 5,000 kilometers compared to its agreement with the Greek Cypriot administration (the internationally recognized Republic of Cyprus). In fact, Israel was a loser in the agreement it concluded with Greek Cyprus.
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How did the Turkish state receive your proposal?
As far as I know, the Turkish state submitted the proposal for this agreement that I am talking about to the Mahmoud Abbas administration in Antalya. But I think the Abbas administration did not see it as appropriate; Now we see that the world can do nothing to stop this genocide in Gaza, unless the United States and Israel want to.
Economically, the Arab countries could have done something regarding the oil embargo, but 4 countries did not accept Turkey’s proposal on this issue. They are: UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Morocco. So, if you ask “what can Turkey do for Gaza,” the most important game-breaking step could be this agreement.
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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 of it. The most important obstacle to this is the population of Palestine. Gaza must not be evacuated under any circumstances. There is a verse in Surah Al-Ma’idah 64 of the Holy Qur’an that says, “Whenever they kindle 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 united.
There are some things we can do:
- First, Türkiye must sign the agreement I mentioned with Gaza.
- Secondly, we must implement a ban on the export of oil and natural gas immediately, as the late King of Saudi Arabia, Faisal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, did in 1973. Then 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. Therefore, this initiative will show the whole world that Russia is not the country that defends the territorial integrity of Syria, and that it does not close its airspace to Israeli aviation.
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You say in your talks that other countries are also in danger because of the Gaza war. How is that so?
Israel is implementing the dream of the “Promised Land” as a policy. This means that it wants a part of the lands 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 said that when the aircraft carriers arrive, the borders in the Middle East will be redrawn. The danger is really great, and we all need to be alert.
Therefore, if we all act together and resist, Palestine will gain its independence, and the Israeli expansion policy and the “Promised Land” theory will collapse as well.