by Bhavi Mandalia, Pledge Times
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatens war in the Mediterranean dispute. The opponents of Turkey should be careful, Erdogan said on Sunday: “We are not afraid of a fight.” His country is ready to sacrifice soldiers. Other government politicians questioned whether islands in the Aegean and Mediterranean Sea belong to Greece.
Erdogan made a speech commemorating a battle against Greece on August 30, 1922. At that time, the Turkish army defeated the Greek forces at Dumlupinar in western Anatolia – it was the beginning of the end of the Greek occupation of what is now western Turkey, the one after the first World War had started. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who later founded the republic, commanded the Turkish troops in battle and after the victory gave the soldiers the order to pursue the withdrawing Greeks to the Mediterranean. August 30 is therefore a public holiday in Turkey.
Today some Turkish politicians want to go further than just the coast. Devlet Bahceli, head of the right-wing nationalist party MHP and coalition partner of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has called for twelve Greek Dodecanese islands to be returned to Turkey. Italy had conquered the islands, including Rhodes and Kos, from the Ottoman Empire at the beginning of the 20th century; Turkey officially recognized the Italian claims in 1923. After the Second World War, Italy gave the islands to Greece.
Bahceli complained that the islands had been “illegally” taken from the Turks. “The status of the Twelve Islands must be reassessed,” demanded the right-wing nationalist.
Erdogan said in his August 30 speech that Turkey was ready to let its soldiers die in the conflict in the Mediterranean. “The key question is whether those who oppose us in the Mediterranean Sea and the surrounding area are ready to make the same sacrifices.” In addition to Greece, Erdogan particularly criticized France, which in recent weeks had condemned Turkish politics in the region as aggression. Vice President Fuat Oktay said Turkey will “tear up” the map showing Greek claims in the Aegean and Mediterranean and “crush” its supporters if necessary.
A military ship of the Turkish Navy is at anchor near the Turkish research vessel “Oruc Reis” off the coast …Photo: Ibrahim Laleli / dpa
A few years ago, Erdogan had called for new talks on the Lausanne Treaty of 1923, in which the borders of modern Turkey were drawn. Turkish nationalists like Bahceli also want to force the return of other former Ottoman territories. In recent years, Bahceli has spoken of declaring the oil-rich cities of Mosul and Kirkuk in Iraq to be Turkish provinces.
Excessive claims?
So far, such revisionist positions formed the material for nationalist Sunday speeches, but had no consequences for Turkey’s politics. Now they become part of the escalating one Disputes over territorial claims and gas supplies in the Aegean and Mediterranean. Bahceli has an influence on government policy because Erdogan is dependent on the MHP as the majority funder in parliament.
Ankara accuses Greece of wanting to restrict Turkey to its own coast with excessive claims. Turkish politicians have seen their suspicions confirmed since Athens decided last week to expand the sovereign zones of the islands on its west coast from six to twelve nautical miles; Greece also reserves the right to do this for the islands in the Aegean Sea. With such a move, the Aegean would practically become a Greek sea, says Ankara. The Turkish parliament had already determined in 1995 that the introduction of a Greek twelve-mile zone in the Aegean Sea would be a reason for war. Oktay and Foreign Minister Mevlüt Cavusoglu have now confirmed that this threat is still in force.
