The Greek Emergency Disaster Response Team (EMAK) may have returned from the earthquake-stricken areas of Turkey, with the thanks and gratitude of the Turkish citizens for its important assistance in the rescue operations, but the "guru" of Turkish conspiracies continues to poison bilateral relations.
The well-known nationalist influencer, Cihat Yaycı, a retired admiral and theorist behind the "Blue Homeland", defiantly went so far as to claim that EMAK - at the same time they were rescuing his compatriots from the debris - might be... spying on military installations in the affected areas.
"It turned out that like in 1999, some neighbours sent spying teams under the pretext of help," Yaycı claimed falsely, saying that Greek rescuers were then caught photographing a military base.
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🔴AFET SONRASI KRİZ YÖNETİMİ ÖNERİLERİMİZ📌Cihat Yaycı ; Bölgeye gidecek yardım personelinin deneyimli bireylerden oluşması şarttır aksi takdirde sorun çözmek amacıyla gönderilmiş personelin kendisi sorun kaynağı haline gelebilmektedir. pic.twitter.com/3CzjPch5v8
— TÜRK DEGS / TURK MAGS (@turkdegs) February 9, 2023
Cihat Yaycı's claims provoked strong reactions from a large portion of Turkish users on social media, who directly accused him of continuing to "poison" the relations between the two countries with his non-existent theories, in order to sell more books and also for publicity reasons.
"It's necessary for him to say these things because if enmity with Greece decreases, he'll not be able to sell his books and will starve. Enmity is necessary in order not to lose this popularity. For this reason, when the fire of enmity seems to be extinguished, they immediately begin to fuel it," said one person.
After the reactions, Cihat Yaycı said that the work of the rescuers should be praised, but stuck to his claim, however, that in 1999 Greeks were arrested spying on Turkish military installations.
"I said that this was the case with the Greeks in the earthquake of 1999. This Greek rescue team, when it conducted operations in the area of the Gölcük fleet base. They were caught taking pictures of the military base.
"That is, while they were spying. And I said that this should be taken care of. I didn't say we shouldn't praise rescuers, but keep it in the back of our minds. The state must take its measures and it is already taking them," he said.
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