By George Gilson

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has unleashed yet another attack against Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, this time over the military defences on the Dodecanese islands as well as those in the Eastern Mediterranean, even as the spokesman of his AK Party, Omer Celik, slammed Athens over supposed violations of the rights of the Muslim Minority of Western Thrace.

Though the minority is comprised of Greek citizens of ethnic Turkish, Pomak, and Roma descent, Ankara has long attempted and in large measures succeeded in the Turkification of the other two ethnic groups.

Although Erdogan cites the Treaty of Lausanne in demanding that Greece strip its islands of all defences, Ankara, is simultaneously flouting the treaty’s recognition of only a Muslim and not any ethnic minority in Western Thrace.

Turkey for decades refers to the entire Muslim population as a “Turkish minority”.

Erdogan’s demilitarisation fixation

“Greece’s actions are contrary not only to the Treaty of Lausanne, but also to the [1947] Paris Peace Treaty. I think Mitsotakis does not know that sovereignty over those islands was ceded [to Greece] with a non-military status. I think he will learn it,” Erdogan said in an interview with Turkish state TRT television.

The reference to the Treaty of Paris essentially is an argument for the non-military status of the Dodecanese Islands under Article 14, which however states at the beginning that “Italy hereby cedes to Greece in full sovereignty the Dodecanese”.

Turkey’s Aegean Army, occupation of Cyprus

In establishing its defences on the islands, Athens cites the right to self-defence and the threat of the clearly offensive nature of Turkey’s 130,000-strong Aegean Army along the coast of Anatolia, with NATO’s largest landing force, the only possible target of which would be the Greek islands.

The 1974 Turkish invasion and continuing occupation of Cyprus clearly demonstrates Ankara’s bellicose intentions toward the Greek side and mandated a purely defensive militarisation of the islands, Athens argues.

Erdogan’s pronouncement that Mitsotakis will learn the provisions of the Lausanne Treaty can only be interpreted as a threat that he can teach him a lesson with a possible Turkish landing on one of the islands if Athens does not strip them of their defences.

More attacks by Erdogan on Mitsotakis over speech to US Congress

In his interview with TRT, Erdogan again expressed his consternation over Mitsotakis’ call in a speech to a Joint Session of Congress in Washington for the American legislature to block the sale of F-16 fighter planes to Ankara.

“Greece is trying to block us from buying [F-16] fighter jets for our security needs. They say, ‘Don’t give them to Turkey’,” Erdogan said, asserting that Mitsotakis broke a personal promise not to involve third countries in bilateral disputes.

In a recent interview, Mitsotakis strongly denied ever having made such a pledge, and Athens has consistently highlighted continuing Turkish violations of Greek sovereignty in all international forums.

Erdogan’s AK Party spokesman slams Greece over alleged violations of minority rights

Ahead of Erdogan’s statements, his AK Party’s spokesman, Omer Celik, lambasted Athens over alleged violations of the rights of the Muslim minority [which he called Turkish] in Western Thrace.

He said that Greek authorities’ closure of four schools in the region constitutes a violation of human rights.

He claimed that Athens systematically violates the rights of the minority and demanded the intervention of the EU.

Athens vehemently denies any such violations and has repeatedly stressed that the members of the Muslim minority enjoy exactly the same rights as all other Greek citizens. Moreover, there is affirmative action for the admission of members of the Muslim minority to Greek universities.

Deputy Turkish foreign minister tours Thrace

Meanwhile, Turkey’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Enterprising and Humanitarian Foreign Policy, Yaviz Selim Kiran, visited Western Thrace on 24 July in what was billed as a private visit.

Such “private visits” to the region by Turkish officials are frequent, and are viewed by Athens as a sustained effort by Ankara to increase its influence over the Muslim minority, in which the Turkish Consulate in Komotini has traditionally played a leading, coordinating role and continues to do so.

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