The National Herald

COLUMNISTS

What About Cyprus
March 28, 2022  By Theodore Karakostas

File- In this Thursday Nov. 6, 2019, A Turkish flag is seen through a fence that divided the Greek Cypriot south to the Turkish Cypriots north in divided capital Nicosia, Cyprus. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)
I was a student studying political science and history when Iraq invaded Kuwait in August 1990. I remember the outrage of the world community and the demands that Iraq unconditionally withdraw its troops from Kuwait. The administration of the elder George Bush proceeded to go to war with Iraq in order to drive the Iraqis from Kuwait. One of Washington’s partners was the Republic of Turkey during the Presidency of Turgut Ozal. The Turkish government was valued because it provided use of American bases for American troops to attack Iraq.

The hypocrisy and double standards of America and Europe was deafening then, and it is deafening now in the aftermath of the Russian invasion of Ukraine – as is demonstrated by the continuing illegal occupation of Cyprus by NATO member Turkey.

The Turkish Army invaded Cyprus twice in the summer of 1974. It invaded on July 20,1974 under the pretext of opposing the Athens dictatorship’s coup of Cypriot President-Archbishop Makarios. In reality, Turkey seized the opportunity to fulfill expansionist plans that had been put forward as far back as 1955 when Greek Cypriot patriots sought to end the occupation of their island by Great Britain by uniting with Greece. In 1955, Turkey had formed a party called ‘Cyprus is Turkish’ despite the fact that Cyprus has had a Hellenic identity going back to classical times and a population that was eighty percent Greek.

On August 14, 1974Turkish forces invaded a second time and subsequently seized thirty seven percent of Cypriot territory and ethnically cleansed the occupied territories of 200,000 Greek Cypriots through murder, rape, and mass expulsions.

In order to liberate Kuwait in 1990, the United States collaborated with a government that had itself invaded and occupied another country and perpetrated war crimes. Throughout the 1990’s, the so called ‘free world’ got hysterical over Serbia. NATO took military action against the Bosnian Serbs in 1995, and in 1999 NATO bombed Serbia for close to three months under the guise of ending alleged Serbian aggression. The case of Yugoslavia is rather complex. Bosnia was barely independent when war broke out and Kosovo was still legally a part of Serbia when NATO bombed Belgrade.

Cyprus, however, was independent for fourteen years before the Turks invaded in 1974. The Republic of Cyprus gained independence in 1960 after the signing of the Treaties of Zurich, Guarantee, and London in 1959. The Greeks were undermined by the British who colluded with Turkey to diminish the new Republic. There is not enough space here to recount the criminal activities of the British in Cyprus which continue up to the present day.

Western hypocrisy now manifests itself over Ukraine. It has been nearly forty-eight years since Turkey invaded and occupied Cyprus. The Turks have brought in about 150,000 settlers from the Turkish mainland who have seized homes and property belonging to Greek refugees. They have destroyed over five hundred and fifty Greek Orthodox and Armenian churches and monasteries. Hellenic monuments have been destroyed – but there is nothing but indifference from the powerful of the world.

In 2002, another member of the Bush family along with another anti-Hellenic Englishman named Tony Blair tried to force the Republic of Cyprus to accept the Plan of United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan. The Annan Plan (as it came to be known) is a classic document of appeasement and sacrifice of a small and defenseless country. The Plan was conceived not long after Cyprus was admitted into the European Union and in my opinion Secretary General Annan consciously worked to eradicate even this small advantage that Cyprus might have over Turkey.

The Bush and Blair governments attempted to shove the Annan Plan down the throats of the Cypriots. Cypriot President Tassos Papadopoulos heroically refused to accept the Plan. Seventy six percent of the citizens in the internationally recognized Republic of Cyprus rejected the Plan. The Plan was supposedly accepted in the Turkish occupied territories under the auspices of the Turkish military and the active participation of 150,000 Turkish settlers who were permitted to vote in that fraudulent referendum.

One must take note that Tony Blair’s wife is an attorney who has defended English citizens who reside in the Turkish occupied territories and have knowingly and wittingly taken over the homes and property that Greek Cypriots were forced to abandon in the aftermath of the Turkish invasions of 1974.

Here we are after nearly fifty years of invasion, occupation, and ethnic cleansing in Cyprus and no one seems to care less. The West needs a bogeyman from time to time, and they have found him in Vladimir Putin. The Ukrainian case further exposes western hypocrisy and appeasement.

NATO is a fraudulent alliance and does not function for defensive purposes. Turkey is a member of NATO and invaded the Republic of Cyprus, which has always been a member of the Non-aligned Movement. The bombing of Serbia in 1999 also demonstrates the myth that NATO is an alliance based on defense.

Like Cyprus, Greece is at a disadvantage owing to its membership in NATO, which has always valued Turkey much more that it has valued Greece. NATO has outright rejected demands from Prime Minister Mitsotakis that the ‘alliance’ support Greece in the face of the expansionist claims of Turkey.

The charter of NATO claims that an attack on one member is an attack on all members. Well, Turkey is openly putting forth claims to the Greek islands which international treaties conclusively demonstrate are part of the Hellenic Republic. There is no more support for Greece as a NATO member than there is for Cyprus, which is not a member of NATO.

NATO is a hypocritical alliance and if there is anything that the current crisis in Ukraine effectively demonstrates, it is that NATO exists for offensive and not defensive purposes. One can be opposed to the invasion of Ukraine and simultaneously recognize that NATO’s expansion to the Russian border unnecessarily exacerbated tensions.

It should be remembered that the Russians did provide important diplomatic support for Cyprus in 2004. The Russian Ambassador at the United Nations Security Council vetoed the Annan Plan which the American and British governments wanted to serve as the basis of a settlement for Cyprus. That plan would have maintained the Turkish occupation and would have deprived Greek Cypriots of basic human and civil rights by taking away their right to return to their homes and their freedom of movement.

Greece needs to think long and hard about its membership in NATO. There is much that could be said about NATO’s refusal to stop the Turks from ethnically cleansing the Greeks of Constantinople and the islands of Imbros and Tenedos during the 1950’s and 1960’s. The unpleasant reality is that international relations are based on the power and influence of the strong. Greece and Cyprus are small countries that are not considered important by their alleged allies. This is a dilemma that Greece and Cyprus are faced with.

The Republic of Turkey of Turgut Ozal thirty years ago was being praised for its modernity, secularism, and alleged democracy. Turkey has never been any of those things but it was possible for the western alliance to pretend. Under Erdogan, it is not possible to lie or to pretend that Turkey is anything other than a murderous aggressor. Turkey today openly aligns with jihadists and terrorists and is still considered by NATO to be a member in good standing.

Greece and Cyprus are faced with very few good options. At a very minimum they should abandon the fantasy that they have any friends or allies and proceed to redefine their foreign relations and how to proceed  in dealing with the Turkish threat. News reports indicate that Turkey is selling drones to Ukraine. Historically, when the Russians have been depicted as villainous in the West, support for Turkey against the bad Russians tends to grow. One need only examine the history of the outbreak of the Crimean War in 1853 to see how anti-Russian hysteria in Europe led to pro-Turkish sentiment and pro-Turkish policies.

As the Ukrainian crisis dominates headlines, this Greek has only one question. What about Cyprus?

OPINIONS – COLUMNISTS

Greece, Cyprus, NATO, in the Context of Afghanistan

Αssociated Press

A Taliban soldier walks on the tarmac at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, Sept. 5, 2021. (AP Photo/Wali Sabawoon)

9/21/2021

By Theodore G. Karakostas     

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All people should be sympathetic to the plight of the refugees in Afghanistan. Orthodox Greeks should feel sympathy as the conquest of Kabul by the Taliban resembles in some ways the horror of the conquest of the liberated Christian city of Smyrna by the Turkish Kemalists in September 1922. The Turkish conquest in Smyrna was accompanied by the wholesale and indiscriminate slaughter of Greek and Armenian Christians in the city. The book The Great Fire that was written by historian Lou Ureneck a few years ago did a masterful job in documenting and describing the genocidal campaign by the Turks. In those days also there was widespread panic and fear that preceded the arrival of Kemal’s murderous armies. 

With regard to the events that are still playing out in Afghanistan, American and European advocates of internationalism and interventionism are lamenting that perhaps NATO will lose credibility.

For Greeks, NATO does not have credibility for several reasons. It should be recalled that during the anti-Greek pogroms in Constantinople in September 1955, the Greek Orthodox community (along with Armenians and Jews) were terrorized in a campaign of violence and terror. Greek army officers who were serving with NATO in Smyrna were assaulted and beaten by Turkish hoodlums. Neither the NATO alliance collectively nor its individual members condemned the attack on the Greek community or on their Greek colleagues serving as members of NATO. 

We are now supposed to be horrified by the prospect that NATO’s ‘credibility’ will diminish. In 1974, NATO member Turkey invaded the Republic of Cyprus which is not a member of NATO but was a nonaligned country during the Cold War. The Turkish army ethnically cleansed over 200,000 Greek Cypriots and committed war crimes including murders and rapes against Greek civilians. There are over five hundred and fifty Greek Orthodox churches and monasteries that have been destroyed by Turkey which has been actively Islamicizing the occupied territories. 

In 1999, under the leadership of the Clinton administration, NATO engaged in an act of aggression against Christian Serbia. The Serbs were forced to withdraw from their ancestral homeland of Kosovo and instantly became the targets of violence, persecution, and pogroms. NATO has never intervened to stop the violence against Serbs and hundreds of Serbian Orthodox Monasteries and Churches were destroyed. 

While the news media focuses on the crisis in Afghanistan (and one cannot help but have sympathy for the people who are at risk from the Taliban) it has ignored two other instances of horrific crimes against humanity. The western world has ignored the war crimes and crimes against humanity perpetrated against the Armenians by the aggressor terror states of Azerbaijan and Turkey.

Azerbaijani forces have committed horrific war crimes against Armenians and this humanitarian crisis has been completely ignored by the powerful of NATO, Europe, America, and the world’s media. 

The Kurds of Syria fought heroically on the American side against the genocidal Islamic State which was supported by Turkey. The Trump administration betrayed the Kurds in an act of appeasement and permitted Turkish forces to occupy Syrian territory. 

This was another crisis featuring the fanatical jihadist regime of Turkey which was ignored by the powerful of the world. 

There is more. The Germans have denounced the Biden administration. Now, it is certainly true that the Biden administration chose to withdraw from Afghanistan in a terrible way and created a crisis. The Germans however are the best example of the hypocrisy of NATO and the European Union. Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has asked Germany to stop arming Turkey. The Germans have refused to do so.

Turkey has threatened war against Greece and claims several of the Greek islands. If Turkey were to invade and occupy any Greek islands, the result would be ethnic cleansing and genocide which are the polices of any and all Turkish conquests. The likelihood that Germany, Europe, or NATO will show any support for Greece or will condemn any Turkish atrocities against Greece are non-existent. 

It is quite possible to have empathy as a Christian and as a human being for the suffering people of Afghanistan. It is also possible to simultaneously reject the propagandistic false image that NATO and the West are trying to present to the world. 

Both NATO and the European Union have been disastrous for Greece and Cyprus. Even at this late date as Turkey has openly become a jihadist state aligning itself with ISIS and Al Qaeda, Ankara continues to enjoy uninterrupted support from America, NATO, and the European Union. 

It is unclear what repercussions the crisis in Afghanistan will have for Greece and Cyprus. More migrants flooding into Greece is possible. The Syrian war which the Obama administration pursued flooded the Greek islands with Muslim refugees. Greece pays the price for the military adventures of the West even though Athens does not participate in them.

Commentators on cable television are warning of the ‘Russian threat’ in the midst of the Afghanistan crisis. This does not bode well for Greece or Cyprus. When the western world finds enemies either in the Middle East or Russia, it will look to Turkey for support. The abolition of NATO and the weakening of Europe may very well be to the best interests of Greece, Cyprus, and Armenia over the long term. 

OPINIONS – GUEST VIEWPOINTS

Black September

The National Herald

Turkish mob attacking Greek property in Constantinople.
9/19/2021By Theodore Karakostas     

The dark anniversary of September 6 commemorated the anti-Greek and anti-Christian pogroms that were directed against the Greek Orthodox community of Constantinople in 1955. On that night, the Turkish government organized riots against Christian Greeks in order to further its claims to the island of Cyprus. The previous April, the Greeks of Cyprus who made up eighty percent of the population in Cyprus rose up against

British rule and began the fight for ‘Enosis’ (Union) with Greece. The British responded not only by imposing policies of repression against the Greeks, but actively encouraged Turkey to put forward claims to Cyprus despite Ankara’s having renounced claims to Cyprus in 1923 at the Lausanne Peace Conference. 

The British actively encouraged Turkey to organize demonstrations opposing the Greek liberation of Cyprus. This resulted in the Turkish government bringing in criminal elements from Anatolia to carry out a campaign of violence against the Greek community. The Governmentof Prime Minister Adnan Menderes had already been inciting the Turkish population by commemorating and celebrating the Turkish ‘victory’over the Greeks in September 1922 when the armies of Mustafa Kemal conquered the Christian city of Smyrna and commenced a massacre without mercy of the Greek and Armenian Christian inhabitants of the city. 

In Thessaloniki, Turkish agents provocateur bombed the museum which had been established on the site where the murderous Mustafa Kemal was born in 1881. The house where the Turkish dictator was born was ceded to the Turkish consulate by the Mayor of Thessaloniki in 1937 in a gesture of ‘friendship’. During the period of Turkish history when the ideas of Mustafa Kemal had supplanted Islam as the official ideology, Kemal resembled a sort of pagan god rather than a mere national hero. 

The Turks bombed Kemal’s house in Thessaloniki in order to incite the Turkish population of Constantinople.

Turkish officials doctored photographs of the house before the bombing even took place in order to be ready to incite the pogroms. The pogroms began around six PM and Greek homes and businesses were marked with crosses to indicate these were sites to be attacked. Greek private property along with churches and monasteries and cemeteries were destroyed. Churches and monasteries were desecrated in unspeakable ways and the Balukli cemetery where the Ecumenical Patriarchs are buried was vandalized, as were the bones of the Patriarchs themselves.

Dozens of Greeks were murdered in cold blood. A ninety-year-old priest named Chrysanthos Mannas was doused with gasoline and burned alive. Women were raped and men were beaten unmercifully. Bishops and priests were targeted for humiliation and abuse. One bishop died from the injuries he sustained from a beating he endured.

Photographs of the horrors were taken by Demetrios Kaloumenos, the Patriarchal photographer who later published them in a book titled The Crucifixion of Christianity. The late scholar Spyros Vryonis dedicated his masterpiece The Mechanism of Catastrophe to Mr. Kaloumenos. This latter book was published in 2005 and stands as the supreme work on the pogroms in the English language and was the product of fourteen years of research and work. 

The significance of the pogroms today can be seen within the overall history of Hellenism that preceded these events and by events as they are playing out today.

In September 1922, the genocides of the Armenians, Assyrians, and Greeks which had begun in 1914 were completed. The western powers had their warships at the harbor of Smyrna but refused to intervene. 

In 1955, the same policies of appeasement by the West were in place. The British, as has been mentioned, struck a double blow against the 

Greeks of Constantinople and Cyprus. The British created conflict in Cyprus by encouraging Turkish expansionist and aggressive claims to the island, and encouraged Turkish policies that resulted in the destruction to the Greek Orthodox community of Constantinople.

Today, Greece and Cyprus find themselves isolated once again as NATO and Europe remain indifferent to the expansionist claims of Turkey against both these Hellenic Republics.

Whereas the policies of the British created the climate in which the pogroms could occur, the Americans protected the evil of the Turks in the aftermath. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles sent identical letters to Greek Prime Minister Alexander Papagos and Turkish 

Prime Minister Menderes (the organizer of the pogroms) asking them to solve their “differences”. No condemnation of the Turks was forthcoming and pressure was exerted on Greece to drop the issue. NATO not only refused to condemn Turkey, but showed no support for Greek army officers that were serving with NATO in Smyrna and were assaulted by the Turks. 

September 6 was a very black day in Hellenic and Orthodox Christian history. Unfortunately, important lessons have remained unlearned by all. 

Greece is still heavily dependent on the unfriendly alliance of NATO. Turkey has undergone a transformation and has returned to its Ottoman roots by returning to Islam. The conversion of Aghia Sophia into a mosque symbolizes this return. 

The Ecumenical Patriarchate, which lost much of its flock after the pogroms and which would lose even more after 1964 is today cooperating with the State Department against the Russian Orthodox Church. Cooperating with State Department officials whose predecessors refused to condemn or criticize the ethnic cleansing of Orthodox Greeks from Constantinople and the islands of Imbros and Tenedos after 1955. 

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The Turkish Republic Was Born in Genocide

Αssociated Press

The bodies of deportees from Van who died of typhus and various other diseases, pictured in a forest near the Mother See of Etchmiadzin, about 25 kilometers (15 miles) from the Armenian capital of Yerevan, in the summer of 1915.

(Armenian Genocide Museum/PAN Photo via AP)5/13/2021By Theodore G. Karakostas     

Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has begun the process of groveling before Turkish dictator Erdogan. In the aftermath of the Biden administration’s formal recognition of the Armenian Genocide, Blinken has stated that Biden does not blame Turkey for the Ottoman perpetrated Genocide. The reality, however, is that crimes against humanity were not committed by the Ottomans alone. 

The Republic of Turkey was born in genocide. The murderous founder of the Turkish Republic Mustafa Kemal (the so called ‘Ataturk’) presided over systematic exterminations of Christians – Armenian, Assyrian, and Greek – throughout the lands of Anatolia. No mercy was extended to any men, women, or children.

The civilian Christian populations in every village and town that Kemal’s Army came across were butchered. In September, 1922, Kemal’s Army conquered the once-liberated Christian City of Smyrna. The Turkish Army under the notorious Noureddin Pasha hunted down all Greek and Armenian Christians and set fire to the City. 

There is great historical evidence that affirms that Kemal himself not only approved of the massacres, but praised them. Kemal had previously met with Noureddin Pasha before the massacres at Smyrna. Noureddin Pasha himself handed over Greek Orthodox Archbishop Chrysostom to the jihadist mobs who murdered him. While Constantinople remained under the control of the western powers, fear struck the Christian populations who believed they would suffer the fate of the Christians of Smyrna. Many Greeks fled Constantinople in terror. 

The very idea that the Turkish Republic has no complicity in genocide is an obscene lie and all Greeks, Armenians, and Assyrians should be outraged and offended by the Secretary of State and others who are attempting to curry favor with the present Turkish dictator. Mustafa Kemal ordered the ethnic cleansing of over one million Greeks from Asia Minor and Eastern Thrace. It is morally offensive and outright racist to attempt to absolve the Turkish Republic of responsibility for crimes against humanity. 

Adding to the outrage is the effort of some members of the Biden administration to curry favor with the Erdogan regime even as the regime threatens Greece with war. Turkey has put forward claims on the Greek islands. There is no question what will happen should the Turks occupy even a single Greek island. The massacre of Smyrna will certainly be repeated in the event of a Turkish occupation of any Greek territory. 

Turkey is a sponsor of terrorism which supported Azerbaijani aggression against the Armenians of Artsakh. Turkey purchased oil from the Islamic 

State which was perpetrating Genocide against the Yazidis, Christians, and Shi’ite Muslims. Turkey permitted countless volunteers from America and Europe to pass through its border into the territories controlled by the Islamic State. Turkish treachery at the present time has not been enough  to convince State Department officials that Turkey is a hot bed of jihadism, international terrorism, and aggression against peaceful countries such as Armenia, Cyprus, and Greece.

President Biden’s recognition of the Armenian Genocide should have been a major step toward rehabilitating American foreign policy. The President was hoping not to offend Turkey. It has been official state policy in Turkey from the time of Kemal to deny the Genocides of all its Christian populations.

There is no possibility of making distinctions between the Young Turks who ruled the Ottoman Empire in its final years and the Turkish Republic, which could not have come into being without the physical extermination of the Christians. 

The Turkish Government over time has proceeded to ethnically cleanse the Greek Orthodox populations of Constantinople and the islands of Imbros and Tenedos. Turkey invaded the Republic of Cyprus in 1974 and ethnically cleansed the occupied territories of Greeks. From 1984 until 1999, the Turkish military destroyed over 3,000 Kurdish villages in its dirty war against the Kurds. The history of the Turkish Republic is stained with blood. 

Either the administration supports historical truth and human rights in Turkey, or it does not. 

When it comes to historical facts and evidence, there is no middle ground.

I hope that the traditional American hypocrisy demonstrated in its brazen support for the murderous Turkish Republic will not remain in effect under President Joseph Biden. 

Turkish Republic was born in Genocide

Posted on May. 11. 2021

By  Theodore G. Karakostas | Greek American writer

Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has begun the process of groveling before Turkish dictator Erdogan. In the aftermath of the Biden administration’sformal recognition of the Armenian Genocide, Blinken has stated that Biden does not blame Turkey for the Ottoman perpetrated Genocide. The reality is that crimes against humanity were not committed by the Ottomans alone. 

The Republic of Turkey was born in Genocide. The murderous founder of the Turkish Republic Mustafa Kemal (the so called “Ataturk”) presided over the systematic extermination of every Christian Armenian, Assyrian, and Greek throughout the lands of Anatolia. No mercy was extended to any men,women, or children. The civilian Christian populations in every village and town that Kemal’s Army came across were butchered. In September 1922, Kemal’s Army conquered the once liberated Christian City of Smyrna. The Turkish Army under the notorious Noureddin Pasha hunted down all Greek and Armenian Christians and set fire to the City. 

There is great historical evidence that affirms that Kemal himself not only approved of the massacres, but praised them. Kemal had previously met with Noureddin Pasha before the massacres at Smyrna. Noureddin Pasha himself handed over Greek Orthodox Archbishop Chrysostom to the jihadistmobs who murdered him. While Constantinople remained under the control of the western powers, fear struck the Christian populations who believed they would suffer the fate of the Christians of Smyrna. At least 300,000 Greeks fled Constantinople in terror. 

The very idea that the Turkish Republic has no complicity in Genocide is an obscene lie and all Greeks, Armenians, and Assyrians should be outraged and offended by the Secretary of State and others who are attempting to curry favor with the present Turkish dictator. Mustafa Kemal ordered the ethnic cleansing of over one million Greeks from Asia Minor and Eastern Thrace. It is morally offensive and outright racist to attempt to absolve the Turkish Republic of responsibility for crimes against humanity. 
Adding to the outrage is the effort of the Biden administration to curry favor with the Erdogan regime even as the Erdogan regime threatens Greece withwar. Turkey has put forward claims on the Greek islands. There is no question what will happen should the Turks occupy even a single Greek island. The massacre of Smyrna will certainly be repeated in the event of a Turkish occupation of any Greek territory. 

Turkey is a sponsor of terrorism which supported Azerbaijani aggression against the Armenians of Artsakh. Turkey purchased oil from the Islamic State which was perpetrating Genocide against the Yazidis, Christians, and Shi’ite Muslims. Turkey permitted countless volunteers from America and Europe to pass through its border into the territories controlled by the Islamic State. Turkish treachery at the present time has not been enough to convince State Department officials that Turkey is a hot bed of jihadism, international terrorism, and aggression against peaceful countries such as Armenia, Cyprus, and Greece.

President Biden’s recognition of the Armenian Genocide should have been a major step toward rehabilitating American foreign policy. The President was hoping not to offend Turkey. It has been official state policy in Turkey from the time of Kemal to deny the Genocides of all its Christian populations.There is no possibility of making distinctions between the Young Turks who ruled the Ottoman Empire in its final years and the Turkish Republic which could not have come into being without the physical extermination of the Christians. 

The Turkish Government over time has proceeded to ethnically cleanse the Greek Orthodox populations of Constantinople and the islands of Imbros and Tenedos. Turkey invaded the Republic of Cyprus in 1974 and ethnically cleansed the occupied territories of Greeks. From 1984 until 1999, the Turkish military destroyed over 3,000 Kurdish villages in its dirty war against the Kurds. The history of the Turkish Republic is stained with blood. Either the administration supports historical truth and human rights in Turkey, or it does not. 

When it comes to historical facts and evidence, there is no middle ground. It is apparently clear that the traditional American hypocrisy demonstrated in its brazen support for the murderous Turkish Republic will remain in effect under President Joseph Biden. 

The following was published in the Greek American National Herald on December 24, 2020

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The National Herald

European Treachery against Greece

Αssociated Press

FILE – In this Tuesday, June 2, 2020 file photo, people walk past a poster of a European Union flag in Istanbul. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)12/24/2020 By Theodore G. Karakostas     

Considering the refusal of the European Union to impose sanctions on Turkey in response to Ankara’s aggressive and expansionist designs against Greece and Cyprus one cannot help but be reminded of he European betrayal of Greece during the effort by Athens to liberate the Hellenic populations of Asia Minor and possibly Constantinople. The Italians were the first to make deals with Mustafa Kemal’s murderous nationalists in Anatolia. The Italians were followed by the French and the British who imposed an arms embargo on Greece while the Kemalists were fully armed even as they slaughtered defenseless Greek, Armenian, and Assyrian Christians.

The sanctions imposed on Turkey by both Europe and the United States are based on Turkish purchases of a Russian air-defense system. While the short term goal of the sanctions may be directed against Turkey, the long term target is Russia. The anti-Russian policies of Europe and the United States will not be to the long term benefits of Greece. It is a historically proven fact that the Turks have always been the beneficiaries of the west’s Russophobia. No better example of this exists than the pro-Ottoman policies pursued by the British Empire and France during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Anti-Russian hysteria broke out in Europe in 1853 during the run up to the Crimean War. The British even composed a song, ‘the Russians shall not have Constantinople.’ Greece at the time was anxious to join the 

Russians in their fight against the Ottoman Empire only to see the port of Piraeus occupied by the British and French. Anti-Russian sentiment among the Europeans permitted the Ottoman Empire’s murderous campaigns  against the Armenians, Assyrians, and Greeks to proceed gradually.

During the Cold War, when the Soviet Union was the adversary of the west, Turkey was considered a strategic asset. It is because Turkey was considered a strategic asset that America and Europe ignored the anti-Greek pogroms of 1955 and the subsequent ethnic cleansing of Greeks from Constantinople and the islands of Imbros and Tenedos during the 1960’s. Furthermore, the perception of Washington that Turkey was strategically important permitted Washington to support the Turkish invasions of Cyprus that occurred in July and August 1974. Therefore, the renewed anti-Russian hysteria in America and Europe should be of concern to Greece and Cyprus as Turkey may become the beneficiary of anti-Russian hysteria as it has been throughout the past two centuries.

While it is true that Russia and Turkey have been cooperating in recent years, the reality is that enemy states frequently form temporary truces and periods of cooperation. The most notorious example of enemies making nice with each other is the pact between Hitler and Stalin that was signed in 1939. Turkey has signed an agreement with Libya to divide the Mediterranean between the two of them. More crucially, Russia and Turkey are on opposite sides in the conflict in Libya. Russia and Greece are in fact supporting the same side in Libya. 

Turkey and Azerbaijan have been supporting Syrian jihadists against the Armenians in Artsakh. This in addition to the Syrian jihadists that have been fighting for Turkey in Libya. Furthermore, Turkish officials have bragged that Syrian jihadists would fight with Turkey in the event of a Greek-Turkish war. It should be remembered and emphasized that Russia used its might to defend the secular and pro-Christian government in 

Damascus against the Syrian jihadists that were being sponsored and supported by Ankara. Turkey is a jihadist state who supported the murderous Islamic State politically and economically. 

With regard to the Turkish bragging that Syrians will fight with Turkey against Greece. Western foreign policy nearly turned Syria into another Afghanistan. During the 1980’s, jihadists who would later form Al Quada gathered in Afghanistan to fight the Soviets. Syrian jihadists have become a problem as a result of American and European meddling in Syria. Furthermore, the Greek islands have been flooded with refugees as a result of the western interventions in Iraq and Syria. Are Greek interests really intertwined with those of Europe and can Greece really trust the Europeans?

The Germans have worked to undermine Greek efforts to ensure that sanctions would be imposed on Turkey as a result of Turkish threats against European Union members Greece and Cyprus. The Germans are more interested in appeasing Turkey because of Ankara’s threats to flood Europe with millions of refugees. Other European countries such as Spain and Italy have rejected the possibility of ending their economic ties over Greece and Cyprus. 

The Russians have recently been making statements very friendly to Greece. They have expressed support for Greece’s right to expand its territory in the Aegean Sea. Russia has also condemned the Turkish opening of the beach of Varosha in the Turkish occupied territories of Cyprus. Russia has also reminded the Turks of the Russian role in helping to free Greece at the Battle of Navarino in 1828. Greece hasexperienced great historical injustices at the hands of the Europeans throughout history. It should not be forgotten that the Greek and Armenian Christian populations at Smyrna were slaughtered while Italian, French,British, and American battleships in the harbor stood by without intervening. This after the European powers supported the armies of Mustafa Kemal.

Greek and Cypriot foreign policy changes need to be evaluated very carefully and all options must remain open. Options must include the possibility of aligning with Orthodox Russia under the right circumstances.

American and European perceptions that Russia is a threat may very well lead them to support Turkey. It is quite possible that nothing may come of any American and European efforts to reconcile with Turkey as Ankara is a jihadist state. Regardless, historical precedents remain as do certain geographical realities. The Greeks would do well to perceive European refusal to punish Turkey for its aggressive designs on Greek and Cypriot territory as unfriendly. Athens would also be wise to contemplate the possibilities of a Greek-Russian partnership in the probable event that Russian-Turkish relations fall apart, as they did in 2015. 

My commentary published in the Greek American National Herald

OPINIONS – COLUMNISTS

Theodore G. Karakostas

Greece, Turkey, and the Evolution of American Diplomacy

Ευρωκίνηση

FILE – Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in previous meeting in London. (Photo by Eurokinissi/ Dimitris Papamitsos)3/10/2020 By Theodore G. Karakostas     

There have been several crises between Greece and Turkey over the last several decades. These include the anti-Greek pogroms in the holy city of Constantinople on September 6, 1955. They also include the further ethnic cleansing and mass expulsions of Orthodox Greeks from Constantinople in 1964. In July and August 1974, Turkey invaded the Republic of Cyprus twice. On January 31, 1996 Turkey claimed for itself an islet in the Aegean belonging to Greece that was called Imia. That islet along with others was demonstrably proven to belong to Greece according to the Treaty of Peace with Italy of 1947. It is important to recount all these previous instances of Turkish aggression and provocations in light of the present displays of aggression being directed at Greece and  

Cyprus by Ankara. 

At the present time, American media such as the New York Times and Bloomberg have criticized the Trump administration for allegedly not acting to defuse the crisis. From a Hellenic perspective, there is a huge problem with this conclusion. This necessitates a  recall of how the aforementioned crises created by Turkey were handled by the United States. After the anti-Greek pogroms of 1955, Secretary of State John Foster Dulles wrote identical letters to Greek Prime Minister Alexander Papagos and Turkish Prime Minister 

Adnan Menderes. At the time it was not yet known that the Menderes government organized the pogroms against the Greek community. Still, the United States and NATO refused to condemn Turkey and subsequently threatened to cut off all military assistance to Greece if Athens persisted in its diplomatic and political efforts against the Turkish barbarism.  

In 1964, American diplomacy was non-existent when tens of thousands of Greeks were either expelled from Constantinople or fled in terror. As is well known, during the summer of 1974 Secretary of State Henry Kissinger supported the dual Turkish invasions of Cyprus because of his hostility to President-Archbishop Makarios. The Turks seized thirty-seven percent of Cyprus and ethnically cleansed over 200,000 Greek Cypriots from their homes. The Turkish invasion and occupation of Cyprus remains up to the present day. On January 31,1996 the United States Undersecretary of State Richard Holbrooke brokered an unsatisfactory settlement between Greece and Turkey in the aftermath of the Imia affair. Imia was an islet belonging to Greece and Athens came under enormous pressure to abandon its own territory and to remove the Greek flag from the islet. A Turkish victory to be sure. 

Therefore, those who lament the passing of the old American diplomacy have ignored the fact that virtually all acts of aggression from Turkey against Greece have been to the moral and political disadvantage of the Greek world. The Trump administration’s absence from the Greek-Turkish crisis has in fact been to the advantage of Greece. Greece has stood firmly and in defiance of Turkey and there has been no American pressure to force Greece to surrender as occurred on January 31, 1996 when Athens withdrew its sovereignty over the islet of Imia because of American Undersecretary of State Richard Holbrooke. During this past year Greece has successfully defended its border with Turkey by refusing to admit thousands of refugees that Turkey was attempting to push into Greece. Most recently, Greece achieved at the very least a temporary victory when the Turkish vessel Oruc Reis ceased drilling for oil in Greek waters.  

The absence of American pressure on Greece under the Trump administration is a major break from all or most previous administrations of both parties. The Trump administration’s absence from the scene is to the benefit of Greece. Furthermore, Democratic Candidate for President Joseph Biden has been depicted by many as a friend of Hellenism. This is quite simply untrue and this image can be refuted by two important facts. Turkish officials have recently boasted of the willingness of Syrian volunteers to fight on the Turkish side in the event of a war between Greece and Turkey. Where exactly have these Syrian volunteers come from? These Syrians are jihadists that were sponsored by Turkey in Syria to fight the Assad regime and its Russian ally. These Syrians were also supported by the Obama administration and its Vice President Joseph Biden who provided these jihadists with important training and battlefield experiences.  

Secondly, the Syrian war that Joseph Biden supported as Vice President in the Obama administration was responsible for flooding the Greek islands with Syrian refugees. Joseph Biden and the administration he served have given Turkey a powerful weapon against Greece and  

Europe. The Syrian war created a refugee crisis that flooded both the Greek islands and Turkey. The Turkish government is exploiting millions of refugees in Turkey for use as a political weapon against Greece and Europe. The use of these refugees to threaten Greece and Europe becomes more dangerous and evil considering many of them may have COVID-19 and could infect people in Greece and throughout Europe. As such, the Syrian war that Joseph Biden supported as Vice President has created further potential threats for Greece in  addition to the present territorial expansionism being pursued by the Erdogan government.  

President Donald Trump is not exactly a friend of Greece at this time. But his radical changes in American foreign policy have been beneficial for Greece. The Trump administration ended the Syrian war that flooded the Greek islands with Muslims and Greece has benefitted from Washington’s absence in the crisis between Greece and Turkey. At a very minimum, the Trump administration has ended the traditional foreign policy of both political parties that always and without exception always supported Turkey over Greece. While it is true that  

Donald Trump maintains friendly relations with the Erdogan government it is also true that every administration for the past century has been pro-Turkish. Previous to the United States the western world in the form of the Empire of Great Britain and France supported the Ottoman Empire throughout the nineteenth century.  

France and Italy were both notorious for their support of Mustafa Kemal’s campaign against the Greeks in Asia Minor. Donald Trump can hardly be criticized considering the long and historic support for Turkey and its crimes against humanity by the western world. In any case, change appears to be happening.