Chairman of Turkey’s National Movement Party (MHP), Devlet Bahçeli, said Greece has been a “malignant tumor” that has been bothering Turkey since 1821, the year the Greek War of Independence began.
“This malignant tumor will be cured if possible, otherwise it will be eradicated at all costs,” he said in a message.
Greece's independence in 1821 from the Ottoman Empire after more than 400 years of occupation marked the beginning of the end for the empire.
Over the next century the Ottoman Empire would continue to contract as Greece liberated more land, before it finally collapsed and became the Republic of Turkey, a rump state compared to what the Ottoman Empire once was.
Bahçeli then referred to the Greco-Turkish War (1919-1923) where the Greek Army left Anatolia and the Republic of Turkey emerged.
“It seems that the humiliating remnants of the invaders who were expelled by the Turkish people to the Aegean Sea 98 years ago have not learnt their lessons nor learned from historical events,” adding that Turkey “will not turn its back on our historical interests in the Mediterranean and the Aegean.”
Bahçeli also criticized France’s deployment of military forces in the eastern Mediterranean, saying that “this indicates a new plot by French President Emmanuel Macron.”
He considered that France, Italy, Egypt and some Gulf countries “all fell into a very dangerous spiral in the Mediterranean,” noting that “Greece is the one who plays with fire, and France is the instigator. As for those who sit at the gambling table waiting for the winning party, they are well-known countries.”
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan belongs to the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and is in coalition with Bahçeli's MHP.
Their coalition is officially called the “People’s Alliance." AKP uses the alliance to form a government in Turkey that is rife with delirium of occupying Greek islands and recreating the Ottoman Empire.
