The Cyprus model is being promoted in Thrace

For about two decades, Turkish leaders and ministers, with the tolerance of the Athenian state, have been moving to Thrace, financially supporting the Muslim minority, and not only that, but also interfering in the internal affairs of Greece. They are encouraging and strengthening Greek Muslim citizens in the direction of undermining the Greek state.

This is what Turkish Vice President Hakan Cavusoglu did last week, when he declared in Komotini at an open rally that Turkey is strong and “will not leave them alone.” These subversive actions continue and will not stop as long as there is tolerance and limited reaction. Turkey is making due use of such a response.

The “National Oath”

Last March, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in an article in a special edition of a political magazine owned by former minister and associate of President Özal, Hasan Celal Güzel, referred to the “National Oath” voted by the Turkish Grand Assembly in 1920. The Ottoman Parliament decided, then, “to declare the lands inhabited by Turks as Turkish and to fight for their recovery. The Grand National Assembly convened in Ankara and accepted the “National Oath” which contains places such as Mosul, Kirkuk, Aleppo, Western Thrace, Batumi, and some of the islands.”

Questioning the Treaty of Lausanne, Erdogan, in a speech in his hometown of Rize in eastern Turkey (October 2016), said that “some Turkish historians even believe that the borders of the National Accord also include Cyprus, Aleppo, Mosul, Erbil, Kirkuk, Vatumi, Thessaloniki, Kirdzali, Varna and the Aegean islands.” These references by Erdogan concern the 2023 plan, which is linked to the 100th anniversary of the founding of the modern Turkish state and to the announcement that we will “meet again with our brothers in these lands.”

Cyprus is a model

Beyond the rhetorical outbursts, which appeasement theorists believe are for internal consumption, Turkey is gradually building an entity status for the Muslims of Thrace. The latest decision of the 44th Session of the Foreign Ministers of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, which met in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, on July 10-11, includes a special section concerning the “Turkish Muslim Minority of Western Thrace” and the “Muslim Population of the Dodecanese”.

These formulations are not new, but, as is well known, when repeated, they become entrenched. The fact that Turkey considers the pseudo-state in the occupied parts of Cyprus as a model for promoting its expansionist plans in the region is also not new.

That is why there should be a reaction. The current Greek government does not leave Turkish provocations unanswered. Ankara receives harsh responses from the Greek Foreign Ministry, which does not let anything fall. However, one more step is needed: we should stop them from coughing before it is too late.