THE MIRACLE
A True Story |
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expansionist efforts: "The differences of opinion with Greece
arise because the islands that lie much closer to Turkey
belong to Greece, not Turkey. These islands are part of
Anatolia and have for centuries belonged to the state that
ruled Anatolia."
On 4th April, 1975, Sabri Ihsan Çaglayangil, then foreign
minister of Turkey, declared that: "half the Aegean belongs
to the Turks and the other half to the Greeks. This has
always been Turkey's official view."
That same year, to reinforce this "official" view, Turkey
founded its Fourth Army which it called the Aegean Army,
based in Smyrna. This corps is not part of NATO and does
not, of course, serve any defence purpose. The overwhelming
majority of Turkey's landing-craft are also based in Smyrna,
along with a large number of rubber dinghies, each capable
of transporting up to twelve men to nearby shores.
Anything that is not ceded voluntarily may be seized when
a suitable opportunity presents itself: this has remained
steadfastly Turkey's abiding philosophy. In the case of the
Aegean islands, Turkey made valiant attempts to seize
Greece's islands in the Aegean "when a suitable opportunity
presented itself", which it did during the Second World War
when - at enormous cost to human life - Greece joined the
Allies in supporting the ideals of freedom and democracy.
Turkey attempted, from the safety of its "neutral" position,
to turn the situation to good account by negotiating with
Germany to denounce the 1939 Anglo-Turkish Treaty (which
was never implemented) and to open the way for Germany
to have overland access to Egypt. Its demands, in return,
were quite modest: three Aegean islands, a land corridor to
the west of Alexandroupolis and Turkish jurisdiction over
certain regions of Syria and Iraq.
The draft treaty, which was drawn up in collaboration with
the Turkish foreign minister, Sükrü Saraçoglu, was sent to
Berlin on 23rd May, 1941. Seven days later, on 1st June,
the British entered Baghdad and drove out Rashid Ali, quelling
the Iraqi uprising he had organised, which was the most important of the many reasons behind the rapprochement
between Germany and Turkey. As a result of the British
intervention, the Turko-German pact was derailed and the
Greek islands in the Aegean remained in Greek hands.
During the course of the Second World War, the Turks
endeavoured once again to occupy the Aegean islands, on
the pretext of "protecting" them. This attempt also met with
failure because of decisive reaction from Greece.
Turkey, however, was still waiting for a "suitable opportunity"
to apply its philosophy of "seizing whatever is not voluntarily
ceded". It has laboured indefatigably to fulfill this long-term
strategy. In 1974, when Greece faced major problems
following the fall of the military dictatorship and the restoration
of democracy, Turkey decided that conditions, as a whole,
were ideal. Preparations had already been set in motion the
previous year, when on 1st November, 1973, the Turkish
Government Gazette published details of legislation granting
the Turkish State Petroleum Company exploration and
exploitation rights in respect of deposits of hydrocarbons
in 27 regions of the north-east and central Aegean,
which were suddenly considered to be Turkish! The map
accompanying the legislation showed an arbitrary and totally
unilateral delineation of the continental shelf in the Aegean
that reflected Turkey's predatory appetite and comprised
mainly Greek areas.
On 10th January, 1974, the Turkish defence minister, Ilhan
Sadar, provided a clear indication of Turkey's latest strategy
when he declared that Turkey's future now lay in the sea.
Turkey's next move, which had been well thought out
beforehand, was of a symbolic nature. On 29th May, 1974,
521 years to the day since the Fall of Constantinople, the
Turkish oceanographic vessel Çadarli sailed into the Aegean,
ostensibly to carry out deep-sea explorations, in a blatant
attempt to create a "fait accompli" situation by openly
disputing Greek sovereignty in the Aegean laid down by
international treaties.
A few months later, on 27th February 1975, the then
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