A century ago, the Ottoman government and its successor, the secular Turkish state, pursued the systematic extermination of over 1,000,000 Greek Orthodox Christians. Is Erdogan threatening a new genocide?
“Erdogan: We warn Greece to come to its senses,” translated from “Erdoğan: Yunanistan’ı aklını başına alması konusunda ikaz ediyoruz,” Nûpel, June 9, 2022:
President Erdoğan of Turkey said, “We warn Greece to stay away from dreams and actions that will result in regret, just as they did a century ago, and to come to its senses,” said Erdogan at the Ephesus-2022 Exercise held in Seferihisar.
“We are gradually implementing our determination to protect our borders with a 30-kilometer-deep security line,” Erdogan said.
“We will not allow terror corridors to be established at our country’s borders, for this we will definitely complete the missing parts of our security line.” Erdogan also called upon Greece: “We invite Greece to stop arming islands with non-military status and to act in accordance with international agreements.”
Erdogan continued: “Mr. Mitsotakis is probably making touristic landings on the islands. You can’t get anywhere with this. Turkey does not violate anyone’s rights and laws, but it does not violate its own rights and laws. We warn Greece to stay away from dreams and actions that will result in regret, just as they did a century ago, and to come to its senses. Turkey will not relinquish its rights in the Aegean and will not refrain from using the powers recognized by international agreements on the armament of the islands.”
Infidel says
Greece needs to read NATO the riot act and tell Brussels that they can have Greece, or they can have
TurkeyTürkiye, but they can’t have both. And not just that, but if NATO insists on keeping Turkey, Greece would switch and join hands w/ RussiaIn short, just force NATO’s hand
Adaptively Emergent says
I wish it were that simple. I suspect that Turkey is of more geo-strategic value than Greece.
Infidel says
It was, when it was a Kemalist country. Although even that one had its issues w/ the persecution of Christians – particularly Armenians and Greeks
Greece may not seem like it is Geo-strategically valuable, but it does have a negative value in that the West wouldn’t want it to ally w/ the Russians: it would give them a more stable foothold in the Mediterranean than Ladakiya, Syria is. Athens has a pretty bad hand, therefore in this situation, they should play that card. Force NATO to make a choice b/w Greece and Turkey, noting that if they lose Greece, Moscow gets Greece. That, plus Serbia and maybe North Macedonia will give Russia quite a hand to disrupt NATO
raja says
Infidel,
Hope the days of NATO’s marriage of convenience of cold war era with Turkiye is numbered.
To force NATO to do something good for their cause is just too pragmatic for the present lot of loony leaders of Europe, especially in the light of confused thinking and tinkering with globalization, multi-culturism and political correctness. Things just look too bleak right now.
Fr. Ismael Jose Miguel ComesMayora says
Mr Erdogan is not saying anything new. That is the job of Muslims, to kill Christians and Jews.
Fr. Ismael Jose,
Fr. Ismael Jose Miguel ComesMayora says
Mr Erdogan is not saying anything new. that’s the job of Muslims to kill Christians and Jews.
Fr. Ismael Jose,,,
Black Sabbath says
Turkey should be expelled from NATO.
Create a new country for Kurds and include that in NATO.
Greece is a great country. Turkey is nothing.
Infidel says
Even a Kurdistan I wouldn’t trust: they’re still muslim, and have things like honor killings, persecution of Christians and Yazidis. Kick out Türkiye and add Armenia and Cyprus
ElderlyZionist says
Unfortunately, there is no means of expelling a fractious member from NATO, and Erdogan finds Turkiye’s NATO membership so useful to his neo-Ottoman program that he’s not likely to leave.
I propose that the US withdraws from NATO and forms a new European-American Treaty for Military Entente (EATME). Invite most current NATO members to join, as well as Sweden and Finland. Don’t invite Turkiye.
Black Sabbath says
EATME is a good concept. At least you did not purpose Free Unified Coalition Knot for Military Entente.
NATO should be terrorist free. NATO should be Turkey free.
Infidel says
I like your idea, and have been proposing it for the longest time. In fact, I wanted the US to create a new Indo-Pacific alliance that includes Quad members, as well as Russia to give it coverage. Of course, right now, that’s not gonna happen as long as Putin is around, but hopefully a future Russian regime has a break w/ China
The EU has been talking about an army of their own: let them have it, and include Ukraine in it. But US should stay out of it
GreekEmpress says
Typical Erdogan, threatening Greece for doing anything to defend their own islands from Turkish aggression.
Infidel says
As well as pretending that those islands are Turkish, just like the Palis like to pretend that Israel is theirs
john smith says
Erdogan is going to invade Greece sooner or later, the exact date only he knows that. But I’m pretty certain he is going to make some sort of move in 5 months time on November 1st 2022. exactly 100 years after the ottoman empire was dissolved. Why do I say this.
As I have mentioned here before Erdogan has a thing about dates, he invaded Syria (as a so called peacekeeper) on Wednesday 24th August 2016. That was no coincidence, because the ottomans led by the Turks also invaded Syria on a Wednesday 24th August 1516, exactly 500 years to the day. This invasion sparked the take over of the middle east in what is known as “The Battle of Dabiq.
John says
“Turkey does not violate anyone’s rights and laws,”
The Turkish mafia… “government” says otherwise.
Tony says
Excellent observation please only allow me to add that his best friend the Azeri dictator Aliyev launched the 2020 war against Armenia on exactly the 100th anniversary of the 1920 Turkish invasion of then just newly independent Armenia. No doubt one of Aliyev’s reasons for picking that date was his intention to please his friend and next door dictator Erdogan who is notorious for his date fetish.
Tony says
The above reply was adressed to “john smith” who made a very correct observation about Erdogan’s fetish for Ottoman related dates and anniversaries… for some reason it didn’t get posted under his comment my mistake probably.