Head of TURK DEGS Müstafi Rear Admiral Assoc. Dr. Cihat Yaycievaluated the events in the USA-Greece-Turkey triangle. Saying, “Now, we can say very clearly that America and NATO have shifted the Eastern front from Turkey to the East of Greece”, Yaycı expressed the view that “the USA is taking Turkey out of NATO and making an invasion plan”. Yaycı said, “Did we land on an island in Greece? Did we shoot at any of its islands? No! The Greek islands are arming Turkey for the invasion,” he said.
Yaycı said, “The vehicles shipped to Lesvos and Samos in themselves spoil the non-military status. But the fact that these armored vehicles are vehicles donated by the USA shows why they came and what preparations are made for. Turkey should no longer deceive itself. They want to draw Turkey into a war, a conflict,” he said.
spokesperson writer Aytunç Erkin’s questionsAnswering the question, Yaycı’s explanations are as follows:
■ Why and why is Greece arming these islands?
One of the strongest legal and most important arguments we have is that the status of non-military islands has been degraded by Greece. Namely the militarization and arming of these islands. In fact, Turkey has had some shortcomings and mistakes in this regard from the very beginning.
For example, despite all my warnings until yesterday, some of our officials were saying “disarmed status” in their statements. However, the disarmed status is like the exclusive economic zone continental shelf relationship. Non-military status is the superset, disarmed status is the subset. In other words, non-military status also includes disarmament. But if you call the islands that have non-military status by treaties as islands with demilitarized status, you will ignore many violations. For example, if you build an airport there, you will not break the disarmament, but you will break the non-military status.
These wrong statements have caused many violations of Greece not to be protested by Turkey, that is, to be condoned. However, this is the first paragraph of the 14th article of the 1947 Paris Peace Treaty, and the 43rd article is indirectly referred to, and again the 15, 12, 13th and 6th articles of the Lausanne Peace Treaty. The decision of the six great states in 1913 is as follows: 23 islands are ceded to Greece, provided that they are in non-military status. Finally, non-military status began to be used instead of disarmed, but the losses were also great.
“Must listen to Atatürk”
■ Even though Turkey did not make moves against Greece, isn’t it a contradiction to experience these?
Have we landed on any island in Greece so far? Did we shoot at any of its islands? We did nothing. If we have done nothing then why are these islands arming? I will give a clear answer: These islands are armed to invade Turkey. It is for the rematch of the Megali Idea in 1922 at an appropriate time. Let’s remember that the Italians occupied our Mediterranean region and the Greeks our Western Anatolian region by leaving these islands. They can attack over these islands today too!
That is why Great Atatürk insisted and succeeded in using these islands to have non-military status so that such an invasion operation would not be encountered again. There is no other state other than Turkey in the sea of islands opposite Greece. Vehicles sent to Lesbos and Samos in themselves break the non-military status. Turkey should no longer deceive itself. They want to draw Turkey into a war, a conflict.
“Watch out for the US signature”
■ The attitude of the USA is important… It establishes bases, arms and violates Lausanne.
The USA has completely besieged Turkey, especially in the Sea of Islands, Iraq, Syria, and recently announced that it will lift the arms embargo of the Greek Cypriot Administration (GCA) and arm this region with its own military and defense vehicles. The most important pillar of this siege is undoubtedly the US bases in the Sea of Islands and in Greece. The defense agreement signed between the USA and Greece on July 8, 1990 continued over the years by strengthening its impact, importance and practice especially in the Sea of Islands. In the signed text, it was claimed that Greece was “threatened with a spy-bel decision”, referring to Turkey.
“It entered the written text for the first time”
■ I’m interfering! This place is very important. The USA-Greece makes an agreement and it is said that “Turkey is a threat to Greece”.
Yes very clear! The phrase that Turkey is a threat was also included in a written text for the first time for the United States. Within the framework of this treaty, Greece has put all its geopolitical opportunities, especially in the Sea of Islands, into the use of the USA and other great powers. The United States is heavily based both on the Greek mainland and in the Sea of Islands, and with the large-scale military grants it has provided in Greece in recent years, it is also the contractor and organizer of the arming of the islands with non-military status and the militarization of these islands against Turkey by deteriorating their status. Today, the USA is based in Alexandroupoli, Kavala, Larissa and Stefanovic on the Greek mainland, while the Suda Base in Crete acts as a headquarters in the Sea of Islands. In accordance with the defense cooperation agreement signed between Greece and the United States on October 14, 2021, the United States will deploy F-35 and F-15 warplanes to the Suda Base, and around 500 additional US soldiers will be deployed in Crete.
“Turkey is being targeted”
■ What does it mean for the US to focus so much on Greece?
It only makes sense for the US to intensify its offensive capacity and military logistics in these bases. That is the fact that Turkey was clearly targeted and the projection of the attack was placed in the center. All these bases and military density put this approach into practice more and more every day. On the other hand, in accordance with the latest cooperation agreement, the United States has established an air base on the Iskiri Island located in the northwest of the Islands Sea, and strengthens the military power it has obtained with the Suda Base in the south of the Islands Sea, and with the air base to be established on the Iskiri Island in the north. The USA, which has full control over Alexandroupolis Port, which is only 60 miles (96 km) away from the Dardanelles, is maximizing its military power here. In short, while the USA uses all of Greece’s geographical and military capabilities within the scope of its plan to encircle Turkey, Greece happily offers all possibilities to the USA, as it did to the great anti-Turkish powers in the past.
■ Are we in a circle?
Turkey is engulfed in a ring of fire, and it is no surprise that Alexandroupoli, in the Sea of Islands, was first stacked and now made a base. We can now say very clearly that America and NATO have moved the Eastern front from Turkey to the East of Greece. The fact that the USA lifted the arms embargo from Southern Cyprus and declared it on the anniversary of the Greek Cypriots (October 1, 2022) is a proof that the Eastern front has been gradually shifted to Greece. The USA is planning to remove us from NATO by bringing Turkey into conflict with Greece. If this plan works, it will take Southern Cyprus and Israel into NATO and put Turkey in the status of an occupying NATO member state in Cyprus. With the help of NATO’s Article 5, it will intervene in Turkey and run its invasion plans. At the same time, it will show the operations against the PKK-YPG as an operation against the ally.
“Perception is playing”
“America has opened military bases in Alexandroupolis, Litohoro, Volos and Crete in Greece. The American Military Base in Suda in Crete is a NATO-American military base. The American military base in Alexandroupoli was put into operation to protect Eastern Europe against the so-called Russia.
In fact, Greece is playing a great perception game and says that the opening of these bases in Greece is in line with America’s will. However, this is not the case. Greek Prime Minister Kiriakos Mitsotakis and Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias offered the United States to use these bases when they went to the United Nations meeting. With the establishment of these bases, Greece made a perception game and said to Turkey, “We are not the only ones here anymore. He used expressions such as “There is also America” and tried to present Turkey as a threatening country that wants to invade Greece.”
■ What needs to be done?
The islands, whose sovereignty has been transferred to Greece, also open up the sovereignty of these islands to debate against Greece’s unlawful arming, and the fact that they pose an open threat to Turkey also leads to the emergence of Turkey’s right of self-defense based on the United Nations Article 51. It is unacceptable for a NATO state to pose a threat to another NATO state. Turkey should call the UN Security Council and NATO to a meeting.
“… The issue of increasing territorial waters, which has been constantly on the agenda with the statements made in the last 1-2 months, should be closely monitored by Turkey. Because as soon as Greece increased its territorial waters from 6 miles to 7 miles, this “Casus Belli” was a cause of war as per the 1995 Parliamentary Decision. Look, the fact that Greece increases its territorial waters by 1 mile means that we lose 13 percent of the part of our “Blue Homeland” in the Sea of Islands. I urge everyone to be vigilant. We do not have the opportunity to increase our territorial waters in the Sea of Islands. Because we have the Greek islands ahead of us. We have to draw a line in the middle with the Greek islands. Increasing the radius of the circle by 1 mile around the Greek islands means increasing the radius of the circle by 1 mile. We, on the other hand, can only increase one edge, even if it is maximum. While they gain 13 percent of land water by increasing 1 mile, we gain seven per thousand when we increase it by 1 mile.”
“Methods have changed”
“We can explain that Turkey is embraced from all sides as follows: the developments in Alexandroupoli, Crete and the Greek Cypriot Administration, and the speeches of the US President Nancy Polesi, who went to Armenia, accusing Azerbaijan and supporting Armenia, and the so-called genocide memorial. The laying of wreaths, the visit of the American generals to the PKK-PYD camp in Syria, and the statement by one of the political actors in Greece, “Kirkuk is Kurdish, will remain Kurdish”, is the biggest proof that Turkey is drawn into a game. It should not be forgotten that these states are changing their methods, not their plans. The most recent example of this happened after 15 July 2016. After July 15, foreign powers changed their methods for the disintegration of Turkey. Greece is used for this method.”
“The 1914, 1923, 1947 decisions are clear”
“… In order to reveal the legal dimension of the issue, it is possible to classify the non-military status of the Sea of Islands into four groups. These:
■ Boğazönü Islands.
■ Islands given to Greece (Bozbaba, Thasos and Ipsara) due to their occupation according to the Six Great Powers Decision of 13 February 1914,
■ Saruhan Islands.
■ Hinge Islands.
These 23 islands, which cover the west of Turkey in a series from north to south, are extremely important in terms of geopolitical and geostrategic, especially for Turkey’s military and commercial security. The documents determining the non-military status of these islands are the Six Great Powers Decision communicated to the Greek Royal Government of 13 February 1914, the 12th and 13th of the 1923 Lausanne Peace Treaty, the 6th of the Lausanne Straits Convention, the Parisian of 10 February 1947. Article 14 of the Peace Treaty.”