Mesut Hakkı Caşın, a top advisor to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, said on Saturday that American troops would be dealt with in a similar way the Turks did to Greeks in Smyrna (Σμύρνα, Turkish: İzmir) in 1922.
"Our two batallions would invade there and teach all the Americans how to swim in Aegean waters," Caşın said on live television.
During the Great Fire of Smyrna towards the end of the Greco-Turkish War, forces of genocide perpetrator Mustafa Kemal Ataturk set fire to the great city, resulting in many Greek civilians desperately trying to swim to ships in the harbour and drowning.
100,000 civilians, mostly Greek, died from fire, drowning or directly by Turkish forces.
A common insult by Turkey and proud of the fact that they continued their long tradition of killing civilians, is that they "threw the Greeks into the sea" or "taught Greeks how to swim."
Caşın, member of the Presidential Board for Security and Foreign Policy, stated how US military bases in Turkey could be shut down.
"We can also close our [military] bases [to US troops]. Let the US take its radar [NATO radar base in Turkey's Kürecik] away. The radar does not work for us anyway," said the advisor.
"İncirlik [air base] as well. İncirlik is not as important as in the Cold War, but I will say this," he said.
"Why should we protect the Americans in İncirlik after the US already took the Patriot [missiles] away," he questioned.
"They already reduced their troops there," Caşın added. There are [US] bases in Bulgaria and Romania. [Former US Secretary of State] Condoleezza Rice said they are our best friends."
"But how will they bring ships when the Straits are closed?" the advisor continued.
"About Greece. I said this 10 times before about Crete. It is 260km by 65km. With the air defense the US deploys there, it is not possible to control the area or Alexandroupolis," he continued to explain.
However, it was the next part of his speech that drew reference to the Smyrna Catastrophe.
"Our two battalions would invade there and teach all the Americans how to swim in Aegean waters," he said.
Turkish President #Erdogan's advisor Mesut Hakki Casin threatens the US with base closures, says Turkey does not need to protect US troops deployed in #Turkey, vows to invade #Greece's north to chase American troops away from there while blocking access of US navy to Black Sea. pic.twitter.com/QaLoavxRzu
— Abdullah Bozkurt (@abdbozkurt) December 13, 2020
It is recalled that in September, Caşın said he would personally execute Greek soldiers, as reported by Greek City Times.
