{"id":16976,"date":"2018-04-20T17:02:56","date_gmt":"2018-04-20T14:02:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onisilos.gr\/?p=16976"},"modified":"2018-04-21T18:30:16","modified_gmt":"2018-04-21T15:30:16","slug":"turkey-targeting-greece-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onisilos.gr\/?p=16976","title":{"rendered":"Turkey Targeting Greece &#8211; Again"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><b>by <\/b><b>Uzay Bulut<\/b><b><\/b><b><br \/>\nApril 20, 2018 at 5:00 am<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">With the illegal seizures and occupation of northern Cyprus in 1974 and the Syrian city of Afrin this March &#8212; with virtually no global reaction &#8212; Turkey apparently feels unchallenged and eager to continue; this time, it seems, with the oil-and-gas rich islands of Greece.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">&#8220;To take an interest in Iraq, Syria, Libya, Crimea, Karabakh, Bosnia and other brotherly regions is both the duty and the right of Turkey. Turkey is not just Turkey. The day we give up on these things will be the day we give up on our freedom and future.&#8221; \u2014 Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, 2016.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">Turkish needs are in reality supplied by its association with the US. Turkish officials usually get whatever they want from the West, but they seem to have chosen to align themselves with Iran and Russia, possibly in attempt to blackmail the West for more.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">Turkey has been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/niallmccarthy\/2015\/11\/26\/turkish-jets-violated-greek-airspace-over-2000-times-last-year-infographic\/\">harassing<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.express.co.uk\/news\/world\/805662\/Turkey-planes-violate-Greek-airspace-141-times-Aegean-Islands\">Greece<\/a> consistently. Most recently, this week, on April 17, two Turkish fighter aircraft <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ekathimerini.com\/227758\/article\/ekathimerini\/news\/turkish-fighter-jets-harass-tsiprass-helicopter\">harassed the helicopter<\/a> carrying Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and the Greek Armed Forces Chief Admiral Evangelos Apostolakis as they were flying from the islet of Ro to Rhodes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><!--more--><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">With the illegal seizures and occupation of northern Cyprus in 1974 and the Syrian city of Afrin this March &#8212; with virtually no global response &#8212; Turkey apparently feels unchallenged and eager to continue; this time, it seems, with the oil-and-gas rich islands of Greece.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-16977 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/www.onisilos.gr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/f16-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onisilos.gr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/f16-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.onisilos.gr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/f16-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onisilos.gr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/f16-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onisilos.gr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/f16-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onisilos.gr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/f16-1170x780.jpg 1170w, https:\/\/www.onisilos.gr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/f16.jpg 1530w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">Another <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ekathimerini.com\/227776\/article\/ekathimerini\/news\/turkey-continues-provocations-despite-greek-pms-appeal-for-cooperation\">provocation<\/a> by the Turkish government recently took place when three young Greek men recently paid tribute to a dead pilot by planting five flags in some islets in the Aegean.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">According to the Turkish media, Turkey first urged Greece to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ekathimerini.com\/227731\/article\/ekathimerini\/news\/turkish-paper-claims-ankara-asked-athens-to-take-down-iselt-flag\">remove the flags<\/a>, then carried out a military operation against a tiny islet, Mikros Anthropofagos, at night: special operation units (SAT) of the Turkish Navy allegedly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.yenisafak.com\/gundem\/iste-egede-indirilen-yunan-bayragi-3225397\">removed<\/a> them on April 15.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">&#8220;Do not take dangerous steps,&#8221; Turkish foreign minister Mevl\u00fct \u00c7avu\u015fo\u011flu, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cumhuriyet.com.tr\/haber\/dunya\/959091\/Disisleri_Bakani_ndan_Yunanistan_aciklamasi__Tehlikeli_adimlar_atmayin__askerlerimizin_elinden_kaza_cikabilir.html\">warned<\/a> Greece: &#8220;Our soldiers might cause an accident.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">Many Turkish media outlets <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gunes.com\/gundem\/didim-in-karsisindaki-kayaliga-asilan-yunan-bayragini-sat-komandolari-indirdi-867594\">proudly covered<\/a> the operation as if Turkey, in a triumphant battle, had conquered new realms. The Greek media, however, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ekathimerini.com\/227731\/article\/ekathimerini\/news\/turkish-paper-claims-ankara-asked-athens-to-take-down-iselt-flag\">reported<\/a> that according to witnesses in the area, all five flags are apparently still in place.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">The Aegean islands that Turkey keep threatening to invade, <a href=\"http:\/\/eur-lex.europa.eu\/legal-content\/HR\/TXT\/?uri=CELEX%3A51996IP0146\">legally<\/a> and historically belong to Greece.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">Since Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited Greece last December, the Turkish media has escalated its anti-Greek, pro-war reporting concerning &#8220;the Greek occupation of the islands.&#8221; Some newspapers <a href=\"https:\/\/www.takvim.com.tr\/guncel\/2018\/02\/19\/3-teror-orgutu-ayni-dairede\">claim<\/a> that &#8220;Greece has become home to terrorists hostile to Turkey.&#8221; Others <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sozcu.com.tr\/2017\/gundem\/egede-tehdit-buyuyor-1653655\/\">say<\/a>, &#8220;Greece is planning to invade Turkey.&#8221; Some columnists <a href=\"https:\/\/www.yenisafak.com\/en\/columns\/ibrahimkaragul\/we-can-fight-in-both-afrin-and-the-aegean-the-us-soldier-pointing-his-weapon-at-us-will-not-remain-there-2042316\">claim<\/a> that &#8220;Turkey can fight against Greece in the Aegean&#8221;, while others <a href=\"http:\/\/www.yenicaggazetesi.com.tr\/kanal-istanbulcular-istanbulda-pontus-ser-45928yy.htm\">accuse<\/a> Greek consular officials in Istanbul of trying to revive the Greek Byzantine Empire through an exhibition the Greek consulate organized in Istanbul from December 2017 &#8211; January 2018.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><b>Why are so many Turks obsessed with Greece?<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">In 1923, after a major attack against Anatolian Greeks &#8212; the 1913-1923 <a href=\"http:\/\/hellenicresearchcenter.org\/publications\/genocide-in-the-ottoman-empire-armenians-assyrians-and-greeks-1913-1923\/\">genocide<\/a> &#8212; the Turkish republic was founded. Since then, Turkey&#8217;s expansionist goals seem to be inspired by a seeming historical aggression, hatred towards Greeks, neo-Ottomanism and an Islamic <a href=\"http:\/\/www.answering-islam.org\/Quran\/Themes\/jihad_passages.html\">tradition<\/a> of conquest, or jihad.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">From the mid-15th century until the proclamation of the first Hellenic republic in 1822, modern Greece&#8217;s borders were occupied by the Ottoman Empire. Erdogan has been <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hurriyet.com.tr\/gundem\/erdogan-turkiye-sadece-turkiye-degildir-40250602\">open about his goals<\/a> of resurrecting the Empire or at least expanding Turkish territory as much as possible:<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">&#8220;There are physical borders and there are borders in our hearts,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Some people ask us: &#8216;Why do you take an interest in Iraq, Syria, Georgia, Crimea, Karabakh, Azerbaijan, the Balkans, and North Africa?&#8217;&#8230; None of these lands is foreign to us. Is it possible to divide Rize [in Turkey] from Batumi [in Georgia]? How can we consider Edirne [in Turkey] to be separate from Thessaloniki [in Greece]? How can we think that Gaziantep [in Turkey] has nothing to do with Aleppo [in Syria], Mardin [in Turkey] with Al-Hasakah [in Syria], or Siirt [in Turkey] with Mosul [in Iraq]?<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">&#8220;From Thrace to Eastern Europe, with every step you take, you will see traces of our ancestors&#8230; We would need to deny our true selves for us to think Gaza and Siberia, with whom we speak the same language and share the same culture, is separate from us. To take an interest in Iraq, Syria, Libya, Crimea, Karabakh, Bosnia and other brotherly regions is both the duty and the right of Turkey. Turkey is not just Turkey. The day we give up on these things will be the day we give up on our freedom and future.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">Erdogan also referred to the <i>Misak-\u0131 Milli<\/i> (&#8220;National Pact&#8221;), a set of decisions made by the Ottoman Parliament in 1920 concerning the borders of the future Turkish state to be established in Ottoman Turkey. The National Pact is commonly <a href=\"http:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/2016\/10\/23\/turkeys-religious-nationalists-want-ottoman-borders-iraq-erdogan\/\">referenced<\/a> by Turks when calling for Turkish territorial expansion.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">The Turkish newspaper <i>H\u00fcrriyet<\/i> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hurriyet.com.tr\/gundem\/erdogan-turkiye-sadece-turkiye-degildir-40250602\">wrote<\/a>:<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">&#8220;Some historians say that according to the National Pact, the Turkish borders include &#8212; in addition to the current borders of Turkey &#8212; Cyprus, Aleppo [in Syria], Mosul, Erbil, Kirkuk [in Iraq], Batumi [in Georgia], Thessaloniki [in Greece], Kardzhali, Varna [in Bulgaria], and the Aegean islands.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">On April 18, the Turkish foreign ministry <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ekathimerini.com\/227779\/article\/ekathimerini\/news\/imia-is-turkish-territory-ankara-says-in-statement-slamming-eu-progress-report\">asserted<\/a>, &#8220;the Kardak rocks [Greece&#8217;s Imia islets] and their territorial waters and airspace above them are exclusive under Turkish sovereignty.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">Major political parties in Turkey <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gatestoneinstitute.org\/11954\/turkey-threats-greek-islands\">unite in their desire<\/a> to invade the Aegean islands &#8212; what they disagree on is who is guilty of having allowed Greek sovereignty over the islands in the first place. The main opposition party, the CHP, (Republican People&#8217;s Party) accuses the ruling AKP (Justice and Development Party) of &#8220;letting Greeks occupy Turkish islands&#8221;; the AKP accuses the CHP, the founding party of Turkey, of &#8220;letting Greeks take the islands through the 1923 Lausanne treaty.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">Turkey&#8217;s quests for new economic gains from additional tourism, but especially from the newly-found Aegean oil and gas potential, seem to have intensified Turkey&#8217;s renewed interest in Greece.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">In 2011, after facing an economic crisis, Greece <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sbs.com.au\/news\/analysis-could-oil-and-gas-reserves-save-the-greek-economy\">re-launched<\/a> its own gas and oil exploration. Last year, France&#8217;s Total and Italy&#8217;s Edison companies signed a lease for oil and gas exploration off Greece, Reuters <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/us-energy-greece\/total-edison-sign-lease-for-oil-and-gas-exploration-off-greece-idUSKBN1D026R\">reported<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">Although Greece might well be willing to partner with Turkey in economic agreements, Turkey appears to prefer &#8220;other means.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">Turkish needs are in reality supplied by its association with the US. Turkish officials usually get whatever they want from the West, but they seem to have chosen to align themselves with Iran and Russia, possibly in attempt to blackmail the West for more.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">In the meantime, Turkish politicians threaten Greece on Turkish national television. Yi\u011fit Bulut, a chief advisor to Erdogan, <a href=\"http:\/\/english.cyprustimes.com\/2018\/04\/14\/erdogans-chief-advisor-turkey-will-walk-all-over-greece-video\/\">recently said<\/a> that he wants to avenge the blood of his grandfather, whom he claims was killed by Greeks:<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">&#8220;Anatolia [Turkey] will walk all over Greece. And no one can prevent this. Greece should know its place. If they try to attack and rape this geography like they did 100 years ago by trusting [French President] Macron, England, the U.S., Germany and [Angela] Merkel, these attempts will end terribly.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">The time to stop Turkey is now.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><i>Uzay Bulut is a Turkish journalist born and raised in Turkey. She is presently based in Washington D.C.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gatestoneinstitute.org\/12199\/turkey-targeting-greece-again\"><i>https:\/\/www.gatestoneinstitute.org\/12199\/turkey-targeting-greece-again<\/i><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Uzay Bulut April 20, 2018 at 5:00 am With the illegal seizures and occupation of northern Cyprus in 1974 and the Syrian city of Afrin this March &#8212; with &hellip; <\/p>\n<div class='heateorSssClear'><\/div><div  class='heateor_sss_sharing_container heateor_sss_horizontal_sharing' data-heateor-sss-href='https:\/\/www.onisilos.gr\/?p=16976'><div class='heateor_sss_sharing_title' style=\"font-weight:bold\" ><\/div><div class=\"heateor_sss_sharing_ul\"><a aria-label=\"Facebook\" class=\"heateor_sss_facebook\" 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