ISTANBUL: The father of Turkey's controversial new maritime doctrine told AFP that France's decision to send warships to help Greece out in its Mediterranean standoff with Ankara was adding "fuel to the fire".

While he might be retired, the "Blue Homeland" vision that Rear Admiral Cem Gurdeniz helped craft over a decade ago is being turned into reality by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan today.

A 62-year-old Francophone and Francophile, Gurdeniz received AFP at a gorgeous wooden summer house on one of Istanbul's Prince's Islands in the Marmara Sea.

As warships from France, Greece and Turkey converged on a disputed patch of the eastern Mediterranean Sea, Gurdeniz looked at ease while criticising French President Emmanuel Macron.