Shortly after publication it occurred to me that Erdogan could roll the refugees and the Greek Islands into one issue as tons of people illegally enter Turkey seeking to get to the Greek islands off its coast and thus the EU.
That could be his national security schtick: these islands being in the EU draws terrorists seeking to reach Europe into Turkey.
". A less punitive peace almost definitely would have left these islands in Turkish hands. None of that is to say that Turkey controlling them would somehow be more “fair”, Turkey simply has a clear case in this territorial dispute, and it would only seriously harm the “territorial integrity” of Greece insofar as people think we must have frozen borders drawn by the imperial powers. "
The islands are are almost entirely inhabited by Greeks who wish to belong to Greece, this matters not one bit in your esteemed opinion. This actually happened on two islands, imvros and tenedos, both full of Greeks, both given to Turkey after ww1, none of which no longer have a single greek due to classic turkic ethnic cleansing. This is fine by you, they have a "claim".
They're preparing to do more of the same, but you have no objection to that, hypocrite.
In fact your "fair and balanced" analysis simply reveals a huge hard on for erdogan and your embarrassing historical ignorance. Maybe don't write about things you don't know jack shit about ei??
The real issue is that theyre fundamentally indefensible even if they were militarized simply due to their smallness and proximity to Turkiye so the wise move is to try to improve diplomatic relations instead of letting things spiral in a negative direction.
Also though one never hears about it in the West, the Turks make really strong claims about the Greeks ethnically cleansing them in Thrace.
It definitely is relevant that the islands are inhabited by Greeks and want to be Greek, though it would be far from the first time such islands were depopulated. Turkiye does have a plausible historical claim to the land itself. Erdogan has gone as far as to bring up the tombs of their ancestors are there, so this could all be very bad for the Greek population if relations continue to deteriorate given that Turkiye is capable of taking them at any time it chooses, though the broader consequences would probably make doing so an unwise decision especially as Turkiye's high inflation [something I admittedly didnt pick up on until after writing this article] and increasing reliance on exports makes it vulnerable to the kind of economic warfare which has failed against Russia.
And actually, though I may end up writing about Liz Truss instead, my plan for the day had been to write an article critical Erdogan's role in supporting the Islamist militias which just took Afrin. I strongly oppose empowering Islamist militias in general and his overall Syria policy is really sketchy.
I keep coming back to a specific point here: I thought it was self-evident that those islands were inhabited by Greek people who wanted to be part of Greece. Perhaps I didnt say it directly and should have, but the fact that I mentioned the public's inability to resist implies the public would want to.
What am I ignorant about, beyond that youre a Greek ethnic partisan? I didnt claim that there are Turks on those islands who desire "liberation", I said Turkiye may conquer them if things go that bad. At no point did I say anything implicit or explicit that would imply those islands should or want to be Turkiye, I simply said its a historic dispute where they can lay a plausible claim on the table which some countries would find sufficient.
You cant possibly believe the BRICS countries would sanction Turkiye for seizing Lesbos, much lessa smaller island?
As was said in a dispute over an Aegean island, "you know as well as we do that right is only a question between equals in power while the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must."
Shortly after publication it occurred to me that Erdogan could roll the refugees and the Greek Islands into one issue as tons of people illegally enter Turkey seeking to get to the Greek islands off its coast and thus the EU.
That could be his national security schtick: these islands being in the EU draws terrorists seeking to reach Europe into Turkey.
". A less punitive peace almost definitely would have left these islands in Turkish hands. None of that is to say that Turkey controlling them would somehow be more “fair”, Turkey simply has a clear case in this territorial dispute, and it would only seriously harm the “territorial integrity” of Greece insofar as people think we must have frozen borders drawn by the imperial powers. "
The islands are are almost entirely inhabited by Greeks who wish to belong to Greece, this matters not one bit in your esteemed opinion. This actually happened on two islands, imvros and tenedos, both full of Greeks, both given to Turkey after ww1, none of which no longer have a single greek due to classic turkic ethnic cleansing. This is fine by you, they have a "claim".
They're preparing to do more of the same, but you have no objection to that, hypocrite.
In fact your "fair and balanced" analysis simply reveals a huge hard on for erdogan and your embarrassing historical ignorance. Maybe don't write about things you don't know jack shit about ei??
The real issue is that theyre fundamentally indefensible even if they were militarized simply due to their smallness and proximity to Turkiye so the wise move is to try to improve diplomatic relations instead of letting things spiral in a negative direction.
Also though one never hears about it in the West, the Turks make really strong claims about the Greeks ethnically cleansing them in Thrace.
It definitely is relevant that the islands are inhabited by Greeks and want to be Greek, though it would be far from the first time such islands were depopulated. Turkiye does have a plausible historical claim to the land itself. Erdogan has gone as far as to bring up the tombs of their ancestors are there, so this could all be very bad for the Greek population if relations continue to deteriorate given that Turkiye is capable of taking them at any time it chooses, though the broader consequences would probably make doing so an unwise decision especially as Turkiye's high inflation [something I admittedly didnt pick up on until after writing this article] and increasing reliance on exports makes it vulnerable to the kind of economic warfare which has failed against Russia.
And actually, though I may end up writing about Liz Truss instead, my plan for the day had been to write an article critical Erdogan's role in supporting the Islamist militias which just took Afrin. I strongly oppose empowering Islamist militias in general and his overall Syria policy is really sketchy.
I keep coming back to a specific point here: I thought it was self-evident that those islands were inhabited by Greek people who wanted to be part of Greece. Perhaps I didnt say it directly and should have, but the fact that I mentioned the public's inability to resist implies the public would want to.
What am I ignorant about, beyond that youre a Greek ethnic partisan? I didnt claim that there are Turks on those islands who desire "liberation", I said Turkiye may conquer them if things go that bad. At no point did I say anything implicit or explicit that would imply those islands should or want to be Turkiye, I simply said its a historic dispute where they can lay a plausible claim on the table which some countries would find sufficient.
You cant possibly believe the BRICS countries would sanction Turkiye for seizing Lesbos, much lessa smaller island?
As was said in a dispute over an Aegean island, "you know as well as we do that right is only a question between equals in power while the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must."
Also I'm not neutral, I'm a philhellene, I'd love to see y'all take back Byzantium, but I live relentlessly in the real world.