THE MIRACLE
A True Story |
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EPILOGUE
Throughout the twentieth century, Turkey has maintained
a steady strategy which is based on two main axes:
The first of these is to create a common national
consciousness amongst the 72 different tribes that live in
the lands where the Turkish Republic was established on
29th October, 1923. There were deeply-rooted national and
religious differences between these tribes. Until the beginning
of this century most of the population of the Ottoman Empire
was comprised of the various peoples of Asia Minor, whether
Muslim (such as the Arabs, the Kurds, the Lazes and the
Cerkezi) or Christian, like the Greeks or the Armenians. It
is precisely for this reason that the populist approach of
Kemalism sought to unite and blend all the various population
groups into a single nation. According to the philosophy
propounded by Kemal Atatürk, "anyone who lives in Turkish
territory and considers himself Turkish, is a Turk."
The second major pivot on which Turkish strategy was
focused was, on the one hand, the eradication from the
territories it controlled of all those populations, without
exception, that did not "consider themselves Turkish", and
on the other to establish and enforce, whenever the
opportunity arose, an expansionist tactic that comes naturally
to the Turks and which is inspired by the ideals of Pan-Turkism.
The body that has been responsible for implementing this
policy almost continuously, from the time of the Sultans
right up to the present day, with only a few brief intervals,
is the so-called National Security Council. For the most
part, this Council has always been largely controlled by
whatever military regime rules the country at the time. It
consists of the President of the Republic (who is also the
president of the Council), the Prime Minister, the general
chief of staff, the heads of the army, navy, air force, police
and secret services, the general director of security and
the ministers of the interior and foreign affairs. The Council's secretary is the deputy general chief of staff.
The decisions made by the Council constitute express orders.
There is no question of any criticism or questioning of these
decisions by either the government, the opposition parties
or the Turkish press: such a possibility is strictly taboo.
So far, Turkey has implemented both parts of this two-pronged
strategy with remarkable consistency. Any peoples
living in Asia Minor that did not "consider themselves Turkish"
have been massacred and mercilessly wiped out in an
appallingly gruesome manner.
The Turkish Republic has put into effect, now as then, the
practices of the Sultans of the Ottoman Empire -with
painstaking attention to detail.
Having forced the great mass of Muslim populations to
"consider themselves Turkish", through violent means, and
"purged" the Asia Minor region of the Christian populations
living there, the Turks turned their attention to a number of
other issues that were on the agenda of the so-called National
Security Council, which to all intents and purposes governs
the country:
The Cyprus Dispute. A common language, religion and
culture have linked Cyprus and Greece for over 3,500 years.
The first recorded invasion of the island by the Turks was
in 1570 when, after seven weeks of desperate resistance
put up by the local inhabitants, Sultan Selim succeeded in
capturing Cyprus. Nicosia was burnt to the ground and 20,000
Cypriots massacred. The Turks forcibly seized control of
the long-suffering island of Aphrodite just as they did with
the rest of Greece. They remained in command of the island
until 14th August, 1878 when, full of gratitude for British
support which had literally saved them from total collapse
after their defeat in the Turko-Russian war, they sold Cyprus
to Britain.
Two years later, on 24th September, 1880, all the Cypriot
representatives gathered in Nicosia and in a joint
proclamation, declared their desire for union with Greece.
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