Fehmi Protect*
It is known that the Chinese say “May you live in strange times” when they want to curse someone. I think someone made such a curse on our generation; awesome oddities find us…
The latest oddity is the comments left and right on President Tayyip Erdoğan’s latest statements, in which he expressed his unrest about Greece…
Before moving on to the weird comments, let me remind you what President Erdogan said:
‘O Greek! Back to history. If you go much further, the price will be heavy, heavy! We have only one sentence for Greece. Don’t forget Izmir! Occupying the islands does not bind us. When the time comes, we will do what is necessary. When we say, we can come suddenly one night.”
These words are a contribution made by the President of Turkey to the problems that arise from time to time between the two countries. Even if it was not so accusatory and warning, harsh statements about them were heard from the same mouth in the past.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis arrived in our country in March this year, shortly after a previous departure, and was hosted at a high level in Ankara.
Now the need to warn Greece must have been felt again.
No, not many approach it that way.
The weirdness starts here.
If only the commentators of our country were there, I can come across comments that seem strange to me from different parts of the world.
In our case, this output is associated with current politics.
What’s the current issue? Vote. Although it is more than nine months to its announced time, almost every day we go to bed with an election and wake up with an election. Like me, those who expect the election date to be delayed – even a dominant election – are not few. For this reason, we are used to dealing with different developments together with the election issue.
The interpretation of the exit to Greece, which I am not accustomed to, as the possibility of not holding an election…
A war will be waged against Greece, and since there is a clause in the constitution that states that in such a case, elections may not be held, the election may not be held at all, let alone held on time – that is, nine months later…
[Anayasa’nın konuya ilişkin 78. maddesi şöyle: ‘‘Savaş sebebiyle yeni seçimlerin yapılmasına imkân görülmezse, Türkiye Büyük Millet Meclisi, seçimlerin bir yıl geriye bırakılmasına karar verebilir. Geri bırakma sebebi ortadan kalkmamışsa, erteleme kararındaki usule göre bu işlem tekrarlanabilir.’’]
Even if not explicitly stated, such comments are based on the fact that the AK Party lost its majority in the Assembly and the possibility of President Tayyip Erdoğan being re-elected disappeared.
It is seriously discussed that if the opinion polls – especially those carried out by the companies that President Erdogan trusts – show that the government will be in danger, the way of not going to the elections will be resorted to and a war will be declared against Greece for this.
This discussion seems so weird to me.
I would laugh if such comments did not come from expert commentators inside and outside, but that is not the case at all. Writers and speakers believe that war will break out, and they write and speak.
Whether Vladimir Putin declared war on Ukraine, carried out a military operation targeting Georgia before and annexed Crimea, the argument that a period in which countries can start wars with the consideration of national security is the source of inspiration for these comments.
Turkey is not Russia, Greece is Ukraine…
Greece and Turkey are two NATO member countries; Moreover, Greece is a member of the European Union. Recently, when Mitsotakis visited Washington as prime minister of Greece, he was given the opportunity to speak in Congress, and his speech received a standing ovation from American parliamentarians.
To date, no Turkish statesman has been invited to speak at the Congress.
For Westerners, Greece is no ordinary country; Greek politicians also know how to exaggerate their situation.
Despite being the country where anti-Americanism is at its peak in Europe, the USA has opened more than one military base in Greece and there are many American soldiers there.
F-35 jets withheld from Turkey are more than supplied to Greece. Turkey’s request to overhaul its F-16s is unlikely to receive approval from the US Congress, despite the promise of Joe Biden.
In short, the comments on the war scenario with Greece don’t make much sense to me.
Exits to Greece and other countries had been made before, but even if someone expected war, the conflict environment did not lead to war.
Until recently, there were those who had similar expectations towards Syria.
Those who spoke on behalf of Turkey also warned about this issue, but they did not deviate from the reasonable every time.
Jared Kushner – his son-in-law, who is also an adviser to former US President Donald Trump – has recently published a book titled ‘Breaking History’ describing events he witnessed at the White House.
There (p. 157) he describes just such an event.
Trump’s aide, Mike Pence, called Kushner for his advice on how to persuade President Erdogan before departing for Ankara to stop it, following intelligence that Turkey was preparing a large-scale military operation in Syria.
This is happening in 2019—the exact date is October 17, 2019.
Kushner is experienced as he came to Ankara to get his support for the ‘Middle East project’ he started a while ago and met with President Erdogan…
Kushner warned Pence that he would be dealing with a tough negotiator. He said he had to be Israeli.
Conclusion?
On their way to Dallas, Pence called Trump and Kushner was on the plane. “Okay, we got it,” said Pence, and he described what happened in Ankara as follows:
“I told Erdogan that you love him in the most precise terms. I explained that your friendship would be valid today, tomorrow and always, and then I asked him to immediately stop the war he started. Otherwise, I stated that there would be heavy sanctions. He objected, but after 90 minutes and the seventh repetition of the same message, he said he would stop; We moved to another room and finished the deal.”
President Erdogan knows how to soften when persuaded; That’s what I got from my description.
So, will what’s happening now with Greece eventually lead to war and the postponement of the election?
Let me repeat once again what I said at the beginning: These kinds of questions seem very strange to me.
I feel like I’ve been cursed by someone’s curse, “May you live in strange times”.