In an article on the website samanyoluhaber.com, the Turkish journalist Türkmen Terzi (based in Johannesburg) points out that Tayyip Erdogan will seek a heated episode with Greece before the Turkish presidential elections scheduled for June 2023, so that take advantage of “a military victory against Greece” and thus thank its nationalist allies in Turkey.
In fact, he says, the Turkish president could take advantage of his country’s position of power, especially after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, to persuade Brussels and Washington to give him the “green light” to occupy the Aegean islands off its coast. Turkey.
Due to the poor performance in the polls that show even Erdogan’s defeat, mainly due to the economic misery of the country’s citizens, Terzi writes that the “sultan” is nervous and considers that it is possible that the support in his face will increase if he proceeds to a military operation “to occupy the disputed Aegean islands”.
He concludes his article (in which he also reviews the latest developments) with the following:
“Erdogan’s victory over Greece in the Aegean could also turn into an electoral victory”…
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has long hinted at an imminent military operation against Greece in the Aegean as tensions continue to rise between NATO allies Turkey and Greece over maritime borders and energy exploration rights in parts of the Aegean. and the eastern Mediterranean.
These disagreements are ongoing and both the Turkish and Greek governments have sought to resolve the issue through diplomacy and the mechanisms of the European Union, the United Nations and NATO.
At this point, however, ahead of the June 2023 presidential election, Erdogan would take advantage of a military victory against Greece to thank his nationalist allies in Turkey.
Erdogan is likely to be nervous at this point, as opinion polls show that public support for him is not enough to secure him first place, as Turkey’s financial woes affect millions of households.
Erdogan has received the support of Turkish nationalists who favor immediate Turkish military intervention in Syria to avert a threat from Kurdish groups on its border.
Similarly, support for Erdogan is likely to increase if he orders a military operation to occupy the disputed Aegean islands from Greece.
Cyprus has remained a point of contention between Greece and Ankara since Turkey occupied the northern third of Cyprus with a successful “Cyprus Peace Operation” five days after the 1974 Cypriot coup launched by the Greek military junta, which aimed to annex it. Of the Republic of Cyprus from Greece.
The Turkish Cypriot community unilaterally declared its independence in 1983 with the formation of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC).
However, only Turkey recognizes it and Greece sees Turkey as an invader on the island.
Similar to the Cyprus dispute, which can be traced back to the fact that the British took the island as a protectorate from the Ottoman Empire in 1878 and its subsequent annexation in 1914, Turkey is trying to reclaim the occupied Dodecanese. from Italy during the Italo-Turkish War of 1911-1912.
After its defeat in World War II, Italy was forced to hand over these islands to Greece without the consent of Turkey.
Since then, an overwhelming number of Aegean islands belong to Greece, including Lesvos, Chios and Samos, which are lined up along the west coast of Turkey.
Erdogan warned the Greek government not to forget Turkey’s rights in the Aegean while in the city of Izmir, where it attended the “EFES 2022” military exercise on June 9th.
“We leave it to the international community to decide what it means to claim 40,000 kilometers of maritime jurisdiction for the island of Meis (Kastellorizo), which is less than two kilometers from our mainland but more than 600 kilometers from Greece in the eastern Mediterranean,” he said. Erdogan, criticizing the Greek authorities via Twitter in both English and Greek.
Erdogan sent a message to Greece, drawing attention to the way in which the Turkish army has conducted successful military operations in Syria in recent years, stating that “Turkey will not relinquish its rights in the Aegean and will not abstain from using them. powers conferred on it by international agreements for the equipment of the islands, when necessary “.
Erdogan hosted Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in Istanbul on March 13th, and the two leaders had lunch together at the presidential palace on the shores of the Bosphorus.
During the meeting, they discussed bilateral and international relations, as well as the implications of the Russia-Ukraine war, according to the Turkish presidency’s communications directorate.
Mitsotakis expressed hope for the restoration of relations with Turkey, stating during a cabinet meeting in March, prior to the visit, that “as NATO partners, we are called θή to try to keep our region away from any additional “Geopolitical crisis,” Hürriyet reported. The
Mitsotakis hoped to defuse tensions with Ankara, as the armies of the two NATO members (Turkey and Greece) became embroiled in several disputes in 2020 over energy resources in Aegean waters.
However, the meeting between Mitsotakis and Erdogan in Istanbul was not as fruitful as expected, and less than two weeks later, Erdogan accused Mitsotakis of trying to prevent the sale of US-made F-16 fighter jets to Turkey during his visit. USA.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the Biden administration had asked congressional leaders to approve an arms deal with Turkey, and that the Erdogan administration had asked the United States to approve the sale of 40 US-built F-16 fighter jets to it.
Erdogan and Turkish officials have always urged Greek leaders not to involve EU and NATO members in the Ankara-Athens dispute, but to engage in direct talks to resolve the dispute.
Erdogan harshly criticized Mitsotakis, saying on May 23 that Prime Minister Mitsotakis “no longer exists” for him.
Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar’s reaction to the Greek MPs at the meeting of the Political Committee of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly on June 14 in Istanbul confirms the seriousness of the tensions between the two countries.
Greek MP Spilios Libanos criticized Akar’s request for Greece to demilitarize its islands and described Turkey as an invader in Cyprus.
Akar responded by saying: “If you say occupation of ‘northern Cyprus’, it means that you want to fight from the beginning.
». Turkey is not an occupier in the north of Cyprus. “Massacres and coups took place there until 1974.”
Erdogan announced that a scheduled summit with Mitsotakis later this year had been canceled and vowed “he will never agree to have a meeting” with the Greek leader.
Turkish political analyst Hakan Bayrakcı, who appeared on CNN Türk’s “Tarafsız Bölge” (Neutral Zone) show, accused the US government of gaining access to Greek military bases to target Turkey and said that Turkey could some Greek islands so that the US could not militarize these islands.
Hürriyet newspaper editor-in-chief Ahmet Hakan, who hosts the program, reacted by expressing frustration with the US presence in Greece and describing Greece as the “new US state”.
Turkish academic and military analyst Eray Güçlüer also said that “the Dodecanese were temporarily given to Italy” and that they should be “returned” to Turkey, the Greek City Times reported.
Erdogan’s Turkey is determined to occupy some of the Aegean islands, with Ankara writing a letter to the UN regarding the sovereignty of the islands.
“Turkey’s objections, as expressed in recent letters to the United Nations, are completely absurd as they raise questions about Greek sovereignty over its islands.
“We can not have any discussion about the absurd,” Mitsotakis told Greek public television ERT on Tuesday, Reuters reported.
Greece has benefited from joining the European Union by challenging Turkey for the past four decades.
However, Erdogan can succeed in convincing major EU states and Washington, as Turkey’s strategic role in NATO has grown since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, to give the green light to Turkey’s special military operation to the occupation of the Aegean islands off the coast of Turkey.
Erdogan’s victory over Greece in the Aegean could also turn into an electoral victory.
