The following letter is intended to condemn Nic Robertson’s distorted news report that declares, “Greek President provokes Turkey by visiting tiny Island At center of eastern mediterranean dispute.” Since when is it a provocation for a head of state to visit the territory of her own country. Provocations have emanated from the jihadist President of Turkey and his Ministers who have sought to drill for oil in waters that belong to Greece. In addition to challenging international law which recognizes Greek sovereign rights over these territorial waters, Turkey has exploited millions of refugees by attempting to force them over the Greek border.
The Turkish President over the past three years has made statements demanding a revision of the Treaty of Lausanne which defines the borders of Greece and Turkey. The Turkish President, Turkish cabinet members, and opposition leaders have all put forward territorial claimsover the Dodecanese islands which have been part of modern Greece since 1947 and are populated overwhelmingly by Greeks. In recent days,Turkish extremists who serve as President Erdogan’s political allies have celebrated the anniversary of the Turkish massacres of Greek and Armenian Christians in the old City of Smyrna in 1922.
Verbal threats from Turkish officials have accompanied Turkey’s aggressive actions in Greek territorial waters. Turkish remarks have contained implied threats of genocide as they have warned Greece of the possibility of a repetition of the genocidal horrors experienced by the Greek, Armenian, and Assyrian Christians by Turkish leaders between 1914 and 1923. Remarkable in this news report is the assertion that neither side actually wants war. Anyone familiar with the realities of present day Turkey would not have made such a false and dishonest assertion.
In addition to threatening Greece, the Turkish leadership has attempted to blackmail Europe by threatening to flood Europe with millions of refugees. The Turkish leadership sees these unfortunate people as nothing more than weapons to be used against any countries that dare to challenge the aggressive and expansionist tendencies of Ankara. CNN and Nic Robertson are morally bankrupt propagandists for daring to criticize the Greek President for visiting the island of Castellorizo.
The island of Castellorizo and its people have been at the receiving end of Turkish threats and bullying. All Greeks are fully aware of what the fate of the people of the Dodecanese islands would be if the Turkish President were to succeed in conquering these Hellenic islands. The GreekPresident and the whole of the Greek government should be seen as heroic for defending their territory and their citizens from the predatory designs of the Turkish leadership.
Theodore G. Karakostas
The news item that this letter has responded to
https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/14/europe/kastellorizo-greece-turkey-tensions-intl/index.html
One reply on “Letter to CNN”
CNN is trash ‘news’ and nothing more. I haven’t watched them in over 2 decades because they have no credibility. Their idea of ‘news’ is their talking heads interviewing each other-because nobody of any real credentials or stature would appear on that -hit network.