The Thoughts of the US Cluster in Alexandroupoli

If you ask me, Prime Minister Kiryakos Mitsotakis, who handed over his key country to the USA, is so afraid of Turkey that he announces with drums on every occasion that he believes the most serious security threat to Greece will come from Turkey, which has made it a NATO member again. Just as Mitsotakis shows Turkey as an aggressor and aggressor on every occasion, he cries out that the famous Article 5 of NATO regarding the common defense cannot be applied if Turkey attacks Greece. As if, together with France, they forget that Turkey is the country that paved the way for them to return to NATO, and they say that it was a mistake for Turkey to join NATO from the very beginning on almost every ground. In the contacts made after the military coup of 12 September 1980, the US and NATO officials accelerated their attempts to return Greece to the military wing of NATO, and it was clearly seen that they even linked the legitimacy of the coup government to this issue.

As a matter of fact, alarmed by the efforts of NATO Commander-in-Chief, General Bernard W. Rogers, who convinced Gen. Kenan Evren on October 17, 1980, just 35 days after the coup, NATO officials quickly called the NATO Defense Planning Council on October 20, 1980, three days later. and approved the return of Greece to the military wing of NATO. Moreover, as a bonus, prize and bonus of this entry, without any preparation, Greece was admitted to the EU at the beginning of 1981. However, Papandreou government, who came to power in Greece at the same time, arrogantly declared that it did not recognize the agreement to return to NATO, and made an arrangement according to its own national interests, and this situation was tolerated. (one)

That's why Greece is Europe's spoiled child, and GKRK is Europe's mischievous child. In the meantime, let's note that the Greek right, especially the Greek left, is also distant towards the USA.

The only permanent thing in Greece is Turcophobia, which has been raised to the level of hatred. Turkish hostility, anti-Turkish or Turkish phobia is defined as hostility towards Turks, Turkish culture, Ottoman Empire, its successor the Republic of Turkey and Turkish peoples. XIX. At the end of the century, William Gladstone introduced 'Turcophobia' as a policy change in Great Britain's policy against the Ottoman Empire. In fact, hundreds of works were written on this subject in Europe during the periods when Turkish raids in Europe and Turkish activity in the seas were intense. From the past to the present, the fear of Turkey, which has become a phobia since the foundation of Greece, has made the country unable to act on its own again. As a natural consequence of this, Turkish hostility has turned into a state policy in Greece.

For this reason, Greek Prime Minister Mitsotakis stepped outside the NATO umbrella and said, “This is why we need a different security guarantee; After expressing clearly to the EU that we expect Europe to provide this guarantee” (2), Greece signed the “Strategic Partnership for Defense and Security” agreement with France on 28 September 2021. Immediately afterwards, after two years of negotiations, the updated new protocol of the existing Defense Cooperation Agreement (MDCA) with the USA was signed in Washington on October 14, 2021. With this new protocol signed with the USA, the country has completely become a US base and the country has been presented to the USA on a golden platter as concession zones given in a turnkey manner. The privileged territories granted to the US Armed Forces are:

- Alexandroupolis (Alexandroupolis) Port in Meriç, approximately 45 kilometers from the İpsala border, and the “Yanuli” 156th Motor Artillery Battalion Barracks in the city of Alexandroupoli. In the last months, the USA has sent 145 attack helicopters, more than 1800 armored vehicles and more than 20 thousand military personnel to Balkan and European countries via Alexandroupolis port. Although it has not been fully confirmed, the return shipping fees to the USA are expensive, and he can exhibit the same approach in the Balkans as he donated the military equipment he brought during the First Gulf Operation to the countries of the region, and he can donate the tools, equipment, ammunition and equipment he brought to the countries of the region, especially Greece. is being evaluated. Let me point out an important feature of the material brought here, that the military material is not for defense purposes, but for offensive purposes.

On the other hand, it is necessary to understand this situation as a US effort to turn the relative combat power against Turkey in favor of Greece.
- A shooting range located in Litohori district, 92 kilometers from Thessaloniki, in Northern Greece.
- Barracks of the "Yeorgula" Infantry Battalion, located in the city of Larisa, near Stefanovikio Air Base. From time to time, the United States temporarily deployed unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) at Stefanovikio Air Base. is in the river.
- Expanding the area of ​​​​the US base in the Suda area of ​​the island of Crete.

During the negotiations, Greece offered military facilities in İskiri (Skiros), Limnos, Karpathos and Rhodes Islands, which were the Naval Bases of the Entente States of the 1915 Çanakkale War, but it is among the news reflected in the press that the USA did not accept these proposals as it could cause problems in its relations with Turkey. (3) Since the content of the protocol clearly did not please Greece, it relied heavily on the letter of guarantee to be written by the US Secretary of State Blinken. The fact that the Blinken letter dated October 12, 2021 did not include any provision for the USA to help Greece in the event of a possible attack created a great disappointment in Greece. Whereas, in article 2 of the "Strategic Partnership for Defense and Security" agreement signed by Greece and France on 28 September 2021, "If the parties jointly detect that an armed attack has been carried out against any of their sovereign areas, they will also use all appropriate means at their disposal and, if necessary, their armed forces." By using them, they will help and contribute to each other”.

As Nilgün Arısan, Director of EU Studies at the Economic Policy Research Foundation of Turkey (TEPAV), stated, the US's strengthening of its military bases in Greece, sometimes like the 'Defender Europe' to which Turkey was invited as a show, the US's involvement in Greece. Joint military exercises with the ILA and some NATO members are seen as a kind of "backup against Turkey". When asked why he thinks this way, TEPAV Director of EU Studies Arısan, by DW Turkish, said, "The USA has been investing in Greece because it has not found Turkey reliable for a long time. There is no US administration that used to see Turkey and Greece as equals anymore. Turkey has a predictable foreign policy. "There is no such thing as an anti-Western policy, as well as its anti-Western attitude. That's why there is a US that only sees Turkey in NATO but does not do business with it." The best answer to TEPAV EU Studies Director Arısan, who interprets Turkey's Ankara-based wise openings as "Turkey does not have a predictable foreign policy and its anti-Western attitude is evident", would undoubtedly be the description of "being an expert does not mean being impartial".

Greece, after the King Agemennon, who strengthened the Delphi League in the war of Ancient Greece against Troy, held joint exercises with Saudi Arabia after France, the USA and the United Arab Emirates, Greece, located only 7.5 kilometers from the Turkish border, and It even held exercises on Chios, which has a non-military status. It is unbelievable, but the Mayor of Izmir Metropolitan Municipality has awarded the newly built floating dock in Alsancak the name "Agemnon", which brings together more than 60 site states. However, the name of the dreadnought in the first division of the great armada of the Allied Powers in the 18 March 1915 Çanakkale Naval War was Agamemnon.

The question to be answered now is: Is the US build-up in Alexandroupoli really for Turkey, against the RF, or is it aimed at the containment of both Turkey and RF? I think the third seems more plausible. After the Second World War and especially after the Normandy Landing, its hegemony, which reached its peak in June 1945, started to decline as of the 80s. Let's remember together, the most powerful generation of the USA was the generation that made the Normandy landings, which ended the Second World War in a way. This generation established NATO and joined the Turkish Armed Forces in the Korean War, the first hot conflict of the Cold War period after the Second World War. The Republic of Turkey, which survived the Second World War without taking part in any alliance, was the first country after the USA to declare that it would send a land force to Korea. American Senator McCain, who came to Turkey on July 25, 1950, told the press, "The American flag and the Turkish flag waving side by side with the UN flag at General Mc Arthur's headquarters, Turkey's de facto aid to the Korean War has been transferred to the Atlantic Pact (NATO). ) will allow him to enter 'he said. On the same day, on July 25, 1950, the Ankara government decided to send troops to Korea, and Turkish troops suffered the heaviest loss in the Korean War. Yes, dear readers, hard times make strong men, easy times make weak men. Now, the country of administratively weak men, the USA, has regressed to a state of no worth, so to speak. Needless to say, the United States has failed disgracefully in Afghanistan. Pursuing a utopian goal, the USA could not enter Central Asia and divide the PRC and RF. China developed faster than expected and became the threat of the USA in the Pacific.

Above all, in Ukraine, firstly fictionalized with Soros, the USA's The play he was preparing was read correctly by Russia and as a natural consequence of this, RF unfortunately occupied Crimea. The RF, which did not care about the loss of Eastern Europe and the Baltic countries, correctly realized that if Ukraine were to get out of hand, it would be surrounded geopolitically. Because Ukraine constitutes a buffer zone for defense between Europe and Russia. Ukraine is geopolitically a land bridge connecting Europe and Asia. Ukraine is the eastern gate of Europe. Asian tribes, who tried to conquer Europe throughout history, first captured Ukraine. Hitler did the same thing in the Second World War, he had the thesis that he controlled Europe, which owned Ukraine. (4)

Russia's western security passes through Ukraine. Undoubtedly, our Crimean compatriots, who were persecuted by Stalin in the Second World War, were adversely affected by this situation. For our Crimean Tatar compatriots who had to leave their homeland, 500 houses were started to be built by TOKİ in the cities of Kiev, Mikolayiv and Kerson in Ukraine. (5)

Soldiers have a concise principle that they apply to diplomacy as well. “Errors made in staking cannot be fixed by maneuvering at the operative level and by moves on the tactical field.” The accumulation mistake made by the USA by choosing Alexandroupoli is just like the adage "whoever buttoned the first button incorrectly, has no chance of buttoning the second button correctly". It is a big mistake. The reality of NATO and the USA behind US President Biden's statement "The old USA is back" has been reinstated in the old world order. The red threat as an aggressor, before the collapse of the Warsaw Pact led by Russia, dictates a NATO organization formed in the face of this threat.

But let's see that the winner of the cold war, NATO, has lost its spirit, turned into a vegetative state, and went back at least ten times. NATO is not the old NATO. Members follow the efforts made for the survival of NATO. For this reason, it is clearly seen that the strategy of the USA's deployment in Greece will not bring success, but defeat, neither to NATO nor to the USA. On top of that, the biggest mistake of the US strategy is the option of excluding Turkey and choosing Greece as the place of concentration. Undoubtedly, the Montreux agreement played an important role in the USA's choice of Greece. Turkey's loyalty to Montreux caused the USA not to dare to pierce Montreux. In this case, a deployment was preferred over Greece, which would bypass Montreux and reach Ukraine by land via the US bases in Bulgaria and Romania. This new railway route was seen as an alternative to Montreux. It was demonstrated by the railway strategy of Germany in the Second World War that a railway route, the route of which is known as millimeters, could never be an alternative to the sea route.

To summarize, the USA will have to support a war in Ukraine from the south and from the Aegean Sea in a timely manner. The Black Sea will be left under the control of the RF and it will be helpless against the RF's attack on Ukraine over the Black Sea. In the Aegean Sea, if there is an obstruction by Russia during the war, according to this strategy, the US support will be very limited in Ukraine. It seems that if this is insisted on, Ukraine will be left alone and left to its fate. In a situation where Turkey is active, direct support can be provided to Ukraine by sea on the basis of hours, not days. In this way, the Black Sea will not be left to Russia, and the southern wing of Ukraine will be secured. (6)

In this case, the role of Turkey, which constitutes the southern wing of NATO, is of great importance here. It should not be forgotten that the Turkish Armed Forces, who heroically defended Çanakkale during the First World War, prevented the sending of support to Russia, which led to the overthrow of the Russian tsarism and the very critical outcome of Russia's withdrawal from the war. (6)

In short, no solution that excludes Turkey in the region can be successful. Once again, it has been seen that US expansionism confirms the maxim of Mao Zedong, "American imperialism is a paper tiger". Mao used this phrase for the first time in 1946 in an interview with the American journalist Anna Luisie Strong. The phrase “Paper Tiger” is an ancient Chinese proverb for beings who are seemingly strong and invincible, but hollow and weak.

After all this, I must say that the Alexandroupoli concentration of the USA was not created against Turkey. However, let us state it again, it is clear that if the USA ignores Turkey, it will lose Ukraine first and then Europe. A down-to-earth USA has never ignored Turkey, and it will be seen that it cannot. For this reason, let's not fall into despair, pessimism, and most importantly, Let's not get carried away, dear readers.

footnotes

(1) Cüneyt Akalın “Does Greece owe its return to NATO to Evren?” Aydınlık Newspaper, 13 September 2020; https://aydinlik.com.tr/yunanistan-nato-ya-donusunu-evren-e-mi-borclu-218146#1/Access Date 05.12.2021/
(2) Eleni Varvitsioti & Ben Hall, “Mitsotakis' Fear of Turkey”, Financial Times, Oxygen newspaper, 19 November 2021; https://gazeteoksijen.com/dunya/micotakisin-turkiye-korkusu/Access Date 30.11.2021/
(3) Yorgo Kırbaki, new move from Greece: Agreement with the USA after France, Hürriyet Newspaper, 05 November 2021; https://www.hurriyet.com.tr/dunya/yunanistandan-yeni-hamle-fransadan-sonra-abd-ile-anlasma-41914401/Access Date 05.12.2021/
(4) Ali Poyraz Gürson, “What is going on in Ukraine? Why is it important to us?”, Strasam, 03.12.2021; https://strasam.org/ua-iliskiler/uluslararasi-sorunlar/ukraynada-neler-oluğu-bizim-icin-neden-onemli-346/Access Date 05.12.2021/
(5) Aybüke İnal Kamacı, “Minister Institution announced that 500 houses will be built for Crimean Tatars in Ukraine by TOKİ.”, Anadolu Agency, 10.04.2021; https://www.aa.com.tr/tr/turkiye/bakan-kurum-kirim-tatarlari-icin-ukraynada-toki-eliyle-500-konut-insa-edilecekini-bildirdi/2204895/Access Date 05.12.2021/
(6) Ali Poyraz Gürson, “What is going on in Ukraine? Why is it important to us?”, Strasam, 03.12.2021; https://strasam.org/ua-iliskiler/uluslararasi-sorunlar/ukraynada-neler-oluğu-bizim-icin-neden-onemli-346/Access Date 05.12.2021/ |