Aegean Sea is turkish (sic!). Αt least, that
is what we learn from a new video release by Turkish Presidency.
"The Aegean is ours" , "We exist in the Mediterranean" , "We curved the blue homeland in our seas"... Turkey
is promoting by all means the "mavi vatan" doctrine, based on their so called "rightful claims"
of a vast maritime domain in Aegean Sea and Eastern
Mediterranean. I am not going to explain what is going on in our
region. I am not even going to present the greek point of view. There are so
many articles, essays, comments etc that provide some pretty good information
to whoever is interested.
But! it seems like when you enjoy the comfort
of your home and your neighbor comes with claims on your front yard, just
because YOUR property is more beautiful or because it is a little bigger than
his.
"Rightful claims" they say. "Greece should
withdraw from its natural borders" Ibrahim Kalin said just the other day so… let’s
just draw a rough timeline of the greek presence in the area, in order to understand better what he meant and then, we
can talk about borders and claims.
"In the beginning there was the Word"
John’s
writing is pretty clear but we won’t go that far back. Let’s begin from 3200 BC
- 1100 BC, when we had the Cycladic Civilization in Greece. If by reading "cycladic"
you feel your lips spelling Mykonos or Santorini, then, you are right! You
will also be right if you presume that greeks started to inhabit Aegean
islands before 3000 BC.
2200 BC - 1450 BC. The Minoan Civilization
flourished on Crete, Greece. King Minos established the
first navy in the region (Aegean and Mediterranean Seas) that allowed him to rule over wide dominions not only in Aegean islands but also in Italy, in south-west Turkey and northern Africa. By the way, his court was full of bulls (olé), goats and topless girls… yummy!
1900 BC - 1100 BC. Mycenaean Civilization in Greece. Argos became the
epicenter of social life but I am telling you: I could never comprehend why. Nafplio was more beautiful. Still is!
1250 BC… Jason and his Argonauts fly (don’t
drink too much!) or sail across Aegean and Black Seas with Argo, long before the Founding Fathers discover Hollywood!
Speaking about Hollywood. What comes next? Or, should I say,
who comes next? That’s right! Brad Pitt! He was fighting Eric Bana and the rest of
the Trojan bastards, some time around 1250-1200 BC. A little later, Armand
Assante set sails to get back to his Penelope but, in the seas he finds his true self and he delays his return as much as possible. - I wouldn't blame him! My mom is from Kephalonia. I know their mentality and manners ;)
Then, after a necessary break for commercials,
between 1000 BC - 338 BC, we’ve been busy developing the magnificent Ancient Greek
Civilization that everybody admires, except from the Turks (but
I will get back to them later… much later)
800 BC - c. 700 BC Homer compiles the epic
poems Iliad and Odyssey, among others… During the same period of time, greeks
begin to expand and colonize more systematically the Mediterranean and Black
Seas. Nothing to do with conquest or colonization, practiced by later great
empires like England or Spain.
Google it!
Some Xfiles are top secret so, let’s skip them. Coming next, some 200 years or more, persians learn what it means to upset
an intellectual who has no time for bullshit but plenty of wine to consume…
323 BC - 31 BC just before our friends from
Italy started learning greek, we had the Hellenistic period in Mediterranean Sea,
in Asia… a short of interval but with great figures. You know, Colin Farrell
aka Alexander… Hephaestion… they both loved theatre and because of their love, they
delivered us probably the very first re-enactment in (hi)story making!
And then, the romans came. Ah! They were
barbarians but no fools. They adopted the greek culture and gave it a spin to
shape what we understand today as the foundation of western civilization!
"Una faccia, una razza"!
Time was passing by and soon enough we
forgot about Zeus, Hera and the rest of the gang. Eventually, we understood
what atheneans meant when they were talking about the "unknown God" and we had a mighty
empire built, until its fall in 1453.
But, the main question remains: Where were the turks during all this time? While our ships were cruising on the Aegean and
Mediterranean Seas; while we were building cities of marble and gold not only in Athens or Corinth but in Naxos, in Samos, in Rodos and all islands, enjoying profits from
commerce? Where were the turks while we were exchanging goods, ideas, customs, information, knowledge with foreign people and foreign states? They were grazing sheep and “dancing with wolves”
somewhere in Mongolia
and even further… Ask Kevin Costner. He was there. Yeap! He's that old.
***
Now, let’s be fair. They came, they conquered,
and they got what they could take. They established their new homeland at the ruins
of the greek presence in Asia Minor and they
have tried to secure their place in the world. We did the same!
In time, we came
to live side by side and still, we try to communicate, to understand each other, to learn from each other, to
share, to exchange, to receive and to give. We made friends; there are many greek-turkish families; greeks and turks work together and seek their fortune on various joint enterprises. As a matter of fact, greek and turkish people have nothing to divide. During summer and public holidays turks and greeks enjoy the hospitality of one another.
But, there is a thorne in our side. Religion and nationalism consumes... exhumes everything! Turkish islamofascist regime along with its nationalistic of no-hope opposition, insists on a revisionism that cannot be acceptable. Islamofascism is like cancer. It grows uncontrollably and destroys any effort, dreams and hopes.
Now, they want our seas. They want our islands. They "demand" to leave them defenceless in order to allow them to do exactly what they have done in Cyprus! The recent gas discoveries in the eastern Mediterranean have increased Turkey's appetite and they covet our resources and the potential wealth. Their claims are simply not acceptable! There are laws,
treaties, rules, agreements and facts that cannot change by high hopes. Only by war. Is that
what Turkey
really wants? A war? Again?
They can try. But they have to calculate the cost
beforehand. And the cost Turkey will have to pay, will be very high because Greece is not Armenia
or Syria
and greeks are not kurds or libyans. That means we can defend ourselves effectively and they shouldn't have any doubts about it.
Our only disadvantage comparing to them is that we value human life really high. If necessary though, that disadvantage
will be our best advantage and then...
