The Turkish government has announced that it will stop drilling for oil near the Greek islands. The Turkish plans to drill for oil escalated tensions and made the possibility of war with Greece inevitable. The strong stance exerted by Greece under the leadership of Prime Minister Mitsotakis is to be commended.
It is not very often that the Turks back down, so this can be considered a genuine success. One is reminded of the imia crisis of January 31, 1996 when the Simitis government agreed to remove the Greek flag from an islet that maps very clearly showed were part of Greece. The era of surrender and appeasement that characterized the reign of Prime Minister Simitis is long gone, and good riddance.
Prime Minister Mitsotakis has proven to be effective in international diplomacy and has brought together a wide coalition against the Turkish-Libyan plan to partition the Aegean. Allies ranging from France to Israel to Egypt have been supportive of Greece as of late. Greece also did not back down as many previous governments had backed down in similar confrontations with Turkey.
A small but significant victory for Greece. A good time also that perhaps will take away some of the nationalistic and triumphalist momentum that President Erdogan built up by his conversion of Hagia Sophia into a Mosque. Times have changed.
5 replies on “A Greek Victory?”
This has been a tough week for Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan. As this article noted, the Turkish oil exploration vessel Oruc Reis-which had been illegally exploring for natural gas and petroleum in Cypriot waters-was forced to return to port. Why? Because the Turkish Lira is in freefall lately and Erdogan was scared any EU threatened economic sanctions for flouting international maritime law would put a massive hit on the remaining value of the Lira. Only today (Wednesday) the Lira sunk to it’s lowest value EVER against both the Dollar and the EURO-mainly because Erdogan has forced the Turkish Central Bank to keep borrowing rates artificially low, even below the current level of inflation. Foreign investment has massively left the Turkish economy and the Central Bank only has on hand about $ 40 Billion to use to support the Lira. The spent $ 2.5 Billion so far THIS WEEK trying to stem the drop in the value of the Lira-unsuccessfully. Erdogan has massively messed up Turkey’s economy, currency and foreign policy and now the notes are coming due. Watch for continued depreciation in the Lira, Turkey falling into recession and Erdogan residing in increasingly hot water with Turk voters. His populist rhetoric is starting to fall on deaf ears, as Turks have to borrow money just to pay for essentials.
This is a dangerous time for both Greece and Cyprus. Erdogan is becoming like a cornered snake, with fewer and fewer options. Turkey has been rebuffed repeatedly, especially on foreign policy. The economy is falling apart and Erdogan and his family reside in the 1000 room Presidential ‘Palace’ while Erdogan jets around the world in a government owned Boeing 747, pretending it’s Air Force One. Turks are using credit cards and borrowed funds just to buy food, shelter and fuel because their take-home pay has been savaged due to inflation and COVID induced economic woes. Erdogan looks out the window of his 747 or his Palace office and see Adnan Menderes hanging in the public square. He’s been able to go far with his gift of populist rhetoric, but he may have pushed the envelope too far-even by Turkey’s standards-with the Hagia Sophia actions. Turks may not admire Christian ruins, but they know pissing off the Christian world is not good for their economy. Stay tuned.
More evidence that Erdogan is running scared-he recently made a big deal out of renovating the Sumela Greek Orthodox Monastery and reopening it for ‘Christian prayers’. He couldn’t be bothered commenting on this a year ago, but the criticism he took over Hagia Sophia has him very concerned:
https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/sumela-monastery-reopened-after-restoration-156958
Erdogan is going insane with frustration. Challenges his adversaries to ‘open battle’: https://twitter.com/i/status/1288716054760493056
Erdogan is gradually emerging as a Hitler type lunatic. The man is an extreme narcissist. He has complete power in Turkey and the failed coup attempt of 2004 (not the 2016 coup which was attempted by a rival Islamic faction) was the last serious attempt to prevent the downfall of the secular Republic. There is no way for Erdogan to be removed from power from within. An election possibly but unlikely. Even if he were to lose an election he has still put his own followers in positions of power and has put Turkey on an irreversible course toward theocracy. The man has nearly started wars with Israel, Russia, and the United States in the last ten years. I think he is going to start a major war at some time in the future.