Authored by Uzuy Bulut via The Gatestone Institute,
There is one issue on which Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its main opposition, the Republican People's Party (CHP), are in complete agreement: The conviction that the Greek islands are occupied Turkish territory and must be reconquered.
So strong is this determination that the leaders of both parties have openly threatened to invade the Aegean.
The only conflict on this issue between the two parties is in competing to prove which is more powerful and patriotic, and which possesses the courage to carry out the threat against Greece. While the CHP is accusing President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's AKP party of enabling Greece to occupy Turkish lands, the AKP is attacking the CHP, Turkey's founding party, for allowing Greece to take the islands through the 1924 Treaty of Lausanne, the 1932 Turkish-Italian Agreements, and the 1947 Paris Treaty, which recognized the islands of the Aegean as Greek territory.
In 2016, Erdoğan said that Turkey "gave away" the islands that "used to be ours" and are "within shouting distance." "There are still our mosques, our shrines there," he said, referring to the Ottoman occupation of the islands.
Two months earlier, at the "Conference on Turkey's New Security Concept,"Erdoğan declared: "Lausanne... has never been a sacred text. Of course, we will discuss it and struggle to have a better one." Subsequently, pro-government media outlets published maps and photos of the islands in the Aegean, calling them the territory that "Erdoğan says we gave away at Lausanne."
To realize his ultimate goal of leaving behind a legacy that surpasses that of all other Turkish leaders, Erdoğan has set certain objectives for the year 2023, the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the Turkish Republic, and 2071, the 1,000th anniversary of the 1071 Battle of Manzikert, during which Muslim Turkic jihadists from Central Asia defeated Christian Greek Byzantine forces in the Armenian highland of the Byzantine Empire.
The idea behind these goals is to create nationalistic cohesion towards annexing more land to Turkey. To alter the borders of Turkey, however, Erdoğan must change or annul the Lausanne Treaty. Ironically, ahead of his two-day official visit to Greece in December -- touted as a sign of a new era in Turkish-Greek relations -- Erdogan told Greek journalists that the Lausanne Treaty is in need of an update. During his trip, the first official visit to Greece by a Turkish head of state in 65 years, Erdoğan repeated his mantra that the Lausanne Treaty must be revised.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said that Turkey "gave away" Greek islands that "used to be ours" and are "within shouting distance". "There are still our mosques, our shrines there," he said, referring to the Ottoman occupation of the islands. (Photo by Carsten Koall/Getty Images)
The following month, Erdoğan targeted CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, again accusing the party that signed the Lausanne Treaty of giving away the islands during negotiations. "We will tell our nation about [this]," Erdoğan said. What this statement means is that Erdogan accepts that the islands legally belong to Greece. Yet, at the same time, he calls the Greek possession of the territory "an invasion" -- apparently because the islands were once within the borders of the Ottoman Empire -- and he now wants them back.
Meanwhile, the CHP has been equally aggressive in its rhetoric, with Kılıçdaroğlu telling the Turkish parliament that Greece has "occupied" 18 islands. When Greek Defense Minister Panos Kammenos was described as "uncomfortable" with this statement, CHP's deputy leader for foreign affairs, Öztürk Yılmaz, responded, "Greece should not test our patience." Yılmaz also reportedly stated that "Turkey is much more than its government," and that any Greek minister who provokes Turkey, will be "hit with a sledgehammer on the head...If [Kammenos] looks at history, he will see many examples of that."
History is, in fact, filled with examples of Turks carrying out murderous assaults against Anatolian Greeks. In one instance, the genocidal assault against Greek and Armenian Christians in Izmir in 1922 was highlighted in a speech before the parliament by Devlet Bahceli, the head of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP):
"If they [the Greeks] want to fall into the sea again -- if they feel like being chased after again -- they are welcome. The Turkish nation is ready and has the faith to do it again. Someone must explain to the Greek government what happened in 1921 and 1922. If there is no one to explain it to them, we know how to stick like a bullet on the Aegean, rain from the sky like a blessed victory, and teach history to the couriers of ahl al-salib [the people of the cross] all over again."
Turkish propagandists also have been twisting facts to try to portray Greece as the aggressor. Ümit Yalım, former secretary-general of the Ministry of National Defense, for example, said that "Greece has turned the Greek-occupied islands into arsenals and military outposts that Greece will use in its future military intervention against Turkey."
Turkish politicians all seem to have their own motivations for their obsession with the islands: Traditional Turkish expansionism, Turkification of Hellenic lands, neo-Ottomanism and Islam's flagship of conquest -- jihad. There are also strategic reasons for their wanting to invade the islands, which can be understood in a statement made by Deputy Prime Minister Tuğrul Türkeş about Turkey's control of Cyprus since 1974:
"There is this misinformation that Turkey is interested in Cyprus because there is a Turkish society there... Even if no Turks lived in Cyprus, Turkey would still have a Cyprus issue and it is impossible for Turkey to give up on that."
The same attitude and mentality apply to the Aegean islands. Although Turkey knows that the islands are legally and historically Greek, Turkish authorities want to occupy and Turkify them, presumably to further the campaign of annihilating the Greeks, as they did in Anatolia from 1914 to 1923 and after. The destruction of any remnant of Greek culture that existed in Asia Minor, a Greek land prior to the 11th century Turkish invasion, is almost complete. There are fewer than 2,000 Greeks left in Turkey today.
Given that Turkey brutally invaded Cyprus in 1974, its current threats against Greece -- from both ends of Turkey's political spectrum -- should not be taken lightly by the West.
Greece is the birthplace of Western civilization. It borders the European Union. Any attack against Greece should be treated as an attack against the West. It is time for the West, which has remained silent in the face of Turkish atrocities, to stand up to Ankara.
Comments
Oil and gas.
Every territorial dispute in the world, detailed:
http://thesoundingline.com/map-of-the-day-disputed-territory/
In reply to Oil and gas. by BennyBoy
Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990 and he ended up hanging from a rope. Erdogan perhaps is smarter not to repeat the same mistakes Iraq did.
In reply to Every territorial dispute in… by Four Star
If Erdogan has nukes, then he won't get Saddam'ed. Was the US ever allowed to withdraw those 60 nukes from Incirlik? That was a big issue in 2016.
Erdogan is just acting like a US mini-me anyway. If the US can do it, why can't Turkey?
In reply to Saddam Hussein invaded… by Apollo55
The real question is what happens if Greece's inept government allows Turkey to take the islands, will it finally push the Greeks over the edge and into a fullscale revolt similar to the Argentine Junta's failure to hold the Falklands?
In reply to If Erdogan has nukes, then… by Heros
No, Greek state TV will run 24/7 propaganda as to how allowing the Turks to take the island supports the EU and the European Project/Dream and if you don't support the Turks invasion then you don't support the EU.
In reply to 1 by eforce
Is that all it takes??? No additional accusations of Racism, Sexism and Cisgenderism are needed to cow the Greeks? Really, just tell them to face northwest and pray to Brussels?
Buncha lemmings....
In reply to No, Greek state TV will run… by Haus-Targaryen
This is an insult to lemmings.
In reply to Is that all it takes??? No… by ZIRPY
I am reposting this from BobCore below because it has a lot of truths in it. He touches on some things for people to put together how deep all of these things go.
IT IS NOT ABOUT PIPELINES (wake up ...pls) it is all about the bible (not the scofield version i might add).
"Uzuy" is yet another of GATESTONES seemingly endless supply of cryptos =Donmehs= apostated followers of the Tsevi of 1666
who spring outta the crypt at a moments notice to regale us with tales of "islamic actrocities" which all boil down to talmudic terror of the kind inculcated into the minds of some pseudo-"Turks" with nary a drop of turkic blood in their veins... and plenty a dollop vanity instead ... of the ethno-supremacist kind. It's all a hoax.
Greek by what metric? Passport holders? You only have to walk down any sokak and LOOK AT the people... theres nary a shade of difference in the average "Turk" countenance from those which you will see in the populace of ha hah " Greece is the birthplace of Western civilization" - yet another lie...
Occupied Anatolia was the birthplace of 'western civilization'... and the melange of bloodlines which make up it's people today puts paid to any notional 'turkishness' which is used to feed the mind-control by which an entire nation of 80million is being pushed into genocidal hatreds against each other - for the exclusive benefit of TERROR TOWN in the s e Med.... for which this - as ALL GATESTONE GHOULS - shills endlessly.
In reply to This is an insult to… by dark fiber
Che?
In reply to I am reposting this from… by Pandelis
guevara? amigo ce toi?
In reply to Che? by Peterk_kk
Everything the article says is 100% correct.
I don't know what you are smoking 'Pandelis'
Good ,for a change, to see an article by someone who actually knows the issues btw GR and Turkey
Turkey used to be the spoiled child of Nato/US for decades ,vis-a-vis Greece
I hope this changes soon.
In reply to I am reposting this from… by Pandelis
To hell with islam. Current Turks are assimilated half-Arabs.
Original Turks fought against islam from 750 - 1050 AD. Woman and girls were raped, man slaughtered and boys indoctrinated for islamic jihad.
Seljuk Turks (1077-1300 AD) are thus the first Turks to serve Satan by submitting to islam and attacking Christian Byzantine as allah commands in the quran. Killing Jews and Christians.
Followed by Ottomans (1299-1922) who killed and genocided Christians. Followed by Israel (1948) taking back Jerusalem (1967) from islamic hands as of God's plan.
Ataturk, won the 1st victory over islam after 900 years. He abolished the caliphate (1924), removed arabic alphabet, arabic clothing, islamic schools and established a secular republic.
Allah is Satan. Mohammedans bow 5 times to Lucifer.
In reply to Everything the article says… by Vigilante
It would make sense if before talking about mosques on tiny islands people took a tour of St. Sophia in Istanbul.
In reply to Everything the article says… by Vigilante
Rome moved East to the Bosporous. There it interdicted the east west precious metals trade. Gold flowed from the East, and Silver from the West.
Our Haibaru ((friends)) ran their donkey caravans from East to West and took rents on metal money. Basically, the usurers were plying their "merchant" game, as they have throughout the long stretch of their history.
The Byzantine Empire became heirs of Rome. Byzantine empire controlled gold price of its Bezant coin, and Western city-states never dared to question it.
Only by time of fourth crusades 1202-1204, did Venice and Catholic conspirators decide to take down Constantinople.
Gold formerly consecrated to the vaults was released, ending the dark ages (really a great depression).
This devious act of Christian on Christian (Italian/Roman on Orthodox) invasion, weakened the Byzantines. This weakness, then allowed Turkic Muslim Armies to invade in 1453. Constantinople is now Istanbul.
The West never regained control of the Bosporous and has been isolated from Russia and the Orthodox ever since.
In 1666 Messianic Jew Sabbatai Sevi was captured by the Sultan:
After his arrest he shocked his tens of thousands of devotees by converting to Islam in front of Sultan Mehmed IV. Many of Sabbatai’s followers also converted, but most continued to secretly practice their rituals as a crypto-religious community into the next centuries.
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/opinion/william-armstrong/the-evolutio…
The Christian West has TWO MAIN ENEMIES. Islam and the Jews. Usury on money and crypto behavior was turbocharged after Sabatai Sevi. Kol-Niedre was elevated to become a central pillar of Jewish usurpation on civil society.
Donmeh Crypto Islam is of the same vein as Western Illuminism. Their roots are mystery relgions: Hermeticism, Zohar, Cabala, then Talmud. Usury on money, especially "bank credit" is their funding apparatus. Religion is used as sanction and cover.
Talmud is friendly with various branches of Islam because they are the same thing.
In reply to I am reposting this from… by Pandelis
You would cower too if you were outnumbered 7:1.
In reply to Is that all it takes??? No… by ZIRPY
Erdogan actually sounds like a brand of ice cream.
In reply to Is that all it takes??? No… by ZIRPY
There are a few points here to take exception to.
Firstly, the separation between greeks and their government is about as big as it can be - the only reason that the government hasn't been overthrown is people genuinely don't seem to care any more, and there is no obvious alternative. However, they DO care about Greece, hence the big demonstrations about FYROM and its impending name-change. Start invading islands, and you will see the nation rise up as one. Small problem: that nation numbers 11 million, and all the young lads are currently living and working abroad. Turkey's 70 million plus would seem to have an advantage. Doesn't mean that the Greeks wouldn't fight, though.
Next issue - this is the Gatestone Institute, so mostly to be ignored. All this Turkey posturing is internal politics for a teetering system. However, that doesn't mean that turkey won't invade, just because a huge military failure in Syria might mean a political survival attempt, a la Argentinian Junta.
So, if turkey does invade? Article 5 immediately put into action by Greece, and NATO either responds, or folds. Could this be the issue to extract the US from NATO? I can't believe the US MIC wants a breakup of NATO. Greece was forced not to act when Turkey took half of Cyprus, I don't think they will let turkey take any more, even if it means leaving the EU (at last).
Finally, how could the EU, UN, and all the other taking shops agree to allow Turkey to appropriate land? As precedents go, it is not good. At the very least, BritBob is going to be peeved.
In reply to No, Greek state TV will run… by Haus-Targaryen
Bwaaahahahaha,! These fuck tards governments learned nothing from WW1. All the Turk Ahmed’s went to war and never came back. Maybe align with Germany again Fuck wit Turogen
In reply to No, Greek state TV will run… by Haus-Targaryen
Bwaaahahahaha,! These fuck tards governments learned nothing from WW1. All the Turk Ahmed’s went to war and never came back. Maybe align with Germany again Fuck wit Turogen
In reply to No, Greek state TV will run… by Haus-Targaryen
Has anyone been to Cyprus and seen the giant turkish flag they placed on a mountain on the turkish side of Nicosia so it can be seen from the whole Greek side? The turks are arrogant fucks that want to lord over people, Erdogan is a characterisation of that whole mentality. They will reap what they sow.
http://cyprus-mail.com/2015/09/13/the-flag-on-the-mountain/
In reply to If Erdogan has nukes, then… by Heros
The Young Turks gave us the Armenian Genocide. Rich Greeks need to start smuggling small arms into the hands of the Greek Populace. If they do not, every Orthodox Greek is going to wind up on a cross.
In reply to Has anyone been to Cyprus… by FakeNewsBandit
They would be easy to disarm.
In reply to If Erdogan has nukes, then… by Heros
Are you high or just stupid?
In reply to If Erdogan has nukes, then… by Heros
“If the US can do it, why can't Turkey?”
because turkey doesn’t issue the world’s reserve currency. Realpolitik 101
In reply to If Erdogan has nukes, then… by Heros
Why ?
Because now Greece is weak and the Turks can get away with it.
In reply to If Erdogan has nukes, then… by Heros
There are no nukes in Turkey. According to the agreement signed to end the Cuban crisis, no nukes are allowed in Turkey. Even if nukes are stationed in Turkey they do not belong to them and are within minutes removed from the area via planes or inactivated launches. There are no nukes in Turkey.
In reply to If Erdogan has nukes, then… by Heros
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nayirah_testimony
have a read. That "invasion" was a bit like the mouse that roared. Strangely similar in sentiment and eyewitness testimony to Syria and Libya..And the US knew all about it long before it happened. That "war" was no different from the rest of the "wars" that the US/UK/IS have run interference for over the last 50 years..it's all a scam..everything you see in the news and on TV is a fiction created to give the illusion of a real crisis
Problem. Reaction. Solution.
Ask Donny. He's got the latest script.
In reply to Saddam Hussein invaded… by Apollo55
Great idea for a site, however it is FUCKING BULLSHIT. It is propanganda. It has Ukraine as a "revolution" and a Russian "Invasion".
In reply to Every territorial dispute in… by Four Star
Somebody needs to liberate turkey.
In reply to Oil and gas. by BennyBoy
muslim filth infestation spreads as diarrhea and smells worse.
In reply to Oil and gas. by BennyBoy
An epic battle against Islam is being set up.
In reply to muslim filth infestation… by charlewar
If the Grand Turk lived in the USA he'd find it seriously hard to buy a firearm. He don't need no SSRIs - he's bonkers without them
In reply to Oil and gas. by BennyBoy
Islam and blood.
In reply to Oil and gas. by BennyBoy
When a dictatorship tries to take the heat off of itself by invading lands that they perceive to be theirs, watch out. Ask the Argentinian junta about the Falklands.
not a good comparison, the second largest NATO Army vs. Greece (who has the support of US, GB and Israel) would not be a short affair.
In reply to When a dictatorship tries to… by Navymugsy
It's actually a military nightmare - like the US far east campaign; endless islands to storm - lots of ships full of troops to be sunk, beaches to be mined, and stormed. Nasty. If Turkey gets a foothold, getting them off could be hard, but they would have resupply issues. Safe to say that the civilian population would be hammered worst of all. As always.
In reply to not a good comparison, the… by Ofelas
Resupply issues? Bull. I could piss from the Turkish mainland onto the 'Greek' islands.
In reply to It's actually a military… by OverTheHedge
Brit bobo rebranded...same as the old rant.
Viva Las Malvinas!!!
In reply to When a dictatorship tries to… by Navymugsy
Greece is no Syria..
that is right, they would not put up a fight
PS done maneuvers with both G and T
In reply to Greece is no Syria.. by AG17
Greece will not put up a fight? How so?
In reply to that is right, they would… by Ofelas
Gotta love the turkeys...still the sick old man of Urupp with delusions of taking over the planet. However, as long as they manage to destroy NATO then onward to the 15th century with Erdoggy!
When one NATO nation invades another what is the job that US has to do (other than arming them both) ?
Exactly - it's a MIC wet-dream - selling arms to both sides in a conflict!
In reply to When one NATO nation invades… by Graph
Turkish people are like americans: to lazy to stand up for their country and send away a dangerous leader.
"Uzuy" is yet another of GATESTONES seemingly endless supply of cryptos =Donmehs= apostated followers of the Tsevi of 1666
who spring outta the crypt at a moments notice to regale us with tales of "islamic actrocities" which all boil down to talmudic terror of the kind inculcated into the minds of some pseudo-"Turks" with nary a drop of turkic blood in their veins... and plenty a dollop vanity instead ... of the ethno-supremacist kind. It's all a hoax.
Greek by what metric? Passport holders? You only have to walk down any sokak and LOOK AT the people... theres nary a shade of difference in the average "Turk" countenance from those which you will see in the populace of ha hah " Greece is the birthplace of Western civilization" - yet another lie...
Occupied Anatolia was the birthplace of 'western civilization'... and the melange of bloodlines which make up it's people today puts paid to any notional 'turkishness' which is used to feed the mind-control by which an entire nation of 80million is being pushed into genocidal hatreds against each other - for the exclusive benefit of TERROR TOWN in the s e Med.... for which this - as ALL GATESTONE GHOULS - shills endlessly.
In reply to Turkish people are like… by Mr.V
Lots and lots of blondes where I live - some Greeks still have their genes. There is a village next door to mine, where the people are very dark - the joke is that they didn't have a castle to retire to when the pirates came to rape and pillage, unlike my village - where all the blondes live.
Name me a race of people, other than the massai, who aren't a muddled up mixed-breed mess.
In reply to "Uzuy" is yet another of… by BobEore
Well, if they don't like the Treaty of Lausanne, perhaps Turkey can resort to the Treaty of Sevres. Or to ancient times when large chunks of Turkey were Greek.
Wait, wait....we now go live to Athens where the Israeli defense chief is discussing with the Greek defense chief shared security threats and military cooperation. http://www.ekathimerini.com/226279/gallery/ekathimerini/in-images/israe…
Though one for some ZH folks. Who do they hate more, Jews or Turks? Remember, the Turks don't like the Jews either. Decisions, decisions....
This has been going on a long time: https://www.britannica.com/event/Greco-Persian-Wars
Four or more failed attempts to take Greece - eventually Alaxander took the Persians, and all the known world.
In reply to Well, if they don't like the… by Joe A
Pagination