Athens issued a strong response to Ankara’s objections regarding a historical map presented by the Chief of the Hellenic National Defence General Staff, General Dimitrios Houpis, to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew during his recent visit to Constantinople.
According to sources from the Ministry of National Defence, the gift was purely symbolic in nature, and Turkey’s reaction was described as “absurd.”
Military sources explained that the map presented by General Houpis to the Patriarch is the “Thraciae Veteris Typus” from 1585, created by Flemish cartographer and geographer Abraham Ortelius. The map depicts the broader geographical region of Thrace, including the Dardanelles Strait, the Sea of Marmara (Propontis), the Bosphorus, Constantinople, the Black Sea, and the islands of Imbros, Tenedos, Lemnos, Samothrace, and Thasos.
“The map was chosen as a symbolic gift to His All-Holiness because it depicts his birthplace, the island of Imbros,” the same sources noted, pointedly adding that Turkey’s displeasure over a 16th-century map is, at the very least, puzzling—especially coming from a country that continues to promote the so-called “Blue Homeland” map, which has no legal standing under international law.
Which Map Did Houpis Give to Bartholomew That Infuriated the Turks? – Ministry of Defence Calls Ankara’s Reaction ‘Absurd’
“It borders on the ridiculous,” the Ministry of National Defence sources emphasized, “for Turkish Defence Ministry ‘sources’ to protest over a map from a specific historical period, while Turkey, in the year 2025, still refers to the ‘Blue Homeland’ map.”
Turkey’s Reaction
It is worth recalling that General Houpis’ act of gifting the map during his visit to the Phanar—on the sidelines of the 18th Meeting of the Chiefs of Defence of Balkan Countries—prompted a reaction from the Turkish Ministry of Defence, according to reports in Turkish media outlets such as Sözcü.
Source: protothema.gr
