Militaristic Greece main trigger of the crisis

Greece's newly elected Prime Minister, Alexis Tsipras, paid his first official visit to Greek Cyprus and met Greek Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades at the presidential palace recently. During his first foreign visit after assuming office, Tsipras said it was not a coincidence that he visited Cyprus first, underscoring Cyprus's special significance for Greeks.

Underlining the fact that the Cyprus issue is one of the top priorities for Greece, Tsipras said, "Cyprus is always in the hearts and minds of the Greek government. I hope the establishment of a new government will be compatible with Hellenism's need of having a voice and seeking its rights properly." Tsipras's sentence, which emphasizes Hellenism, is of great importance. Syriza came to power by claiming that this emphasis was an international one, and ran on such a ticket. I will revisit this idea in the course of this article, but on the sidelines of Tsipras's visit to Greek Cyprus, Turkish Cypriot President Derviş Eroğlu said if Tsipras wants to make a positive and peaceful contribution, his country needs to make radical changes in its policies toward Cyprus. Eroğlu also stressed that Tsipras needs to acknowledge the existence of the Turkish community, which is as legitimate as the Greek community on the island. He also noted Tsipras should not only negotiate with the southern side of the island, but also with the northern one as well, stressing once again that Turkish Cypriots are on the side of peace and reconciliation.

Eroğlu stated that Tsipras, like Anastasiadis, said that the Barbaros Hayrettin Paşa Seismic Vessel should stop exploring natural gas off the coast of Cyprus and accept Greek Cypriot sovereignty for the resumption of negotiations. He also said it seems both left-wing and right-wing parties in Greece and Greek Cyprus will not change their position concerning the Cyprus issue when they come to power.

So, will the self-styled international Syriza government follow nationalist policies on Cyprus and gradually reawaken the fascist policies of the island?

The answer to this question is an important matter for Turkish-Greek relations, and it will show us what path Greece will choose as a way out of the crisis. If Tsipras chooses a nationalist and confrontational path, starting with Cyprus, he will openly succumb to the neo-liberal policies of the troika of the ECB, E.U. and the IMF, and cannot fulfill any of the promises given to the Greek people. If the Cyprus issue remains unresolved, Greece will pose a risk for all the energy and market transits that will be realized through Turkey.

Under these circumstances, the Greek economy will be completely left to the mercy of the German-centric troika. Tsipras and his "cronies" should acknowledge the reality that Syriza has only two ways forward: firstly, they can turn back to the pan-Hellenic nationalist path inherited from PASOK, even though this path will pose the same troubles to Syriza as it posed for PASOK. Secondly, they can develop a new economic model by realizing nationalist traps and escaping the clutches of the troika. The latter is the way of repudiating the neo-liberal political line, cementing new and permanent relations with Turkey and seeking a solution in Cyprus.

When PASOK was established by Andreas Papandreu in 1974, it objected to Greece's E.U. and NATO memberships. It was so far from realpolitik that it defended the removal of all U.S. bases in Greece. However, after it came to power, PASOK's nationalist impulse began working on Turkey alone with its policies toward Cyprus and its objection to the E.U., and NATO was immediately cast aside. Moreover, PASOK attempted to prove Greece's indispensability to the E.U. and NATO with Hellenism. PASOK's pan-Hellenism is a fascist political line that takes its ideological source from the Megali Idea - a plan that aimed to establish a new "Greater Byzantine Empire" covering Greece, Crete, Rhodes, Cyprus, Anatolia, Rumelia, the Balkans and the Near and Middle East, taking Istanbul as its capital. The Megali Idea decorated the cloak of PASOK's Pan-Hellenism in 1974. However, the current troika oligarchs had previously created tension between Greece and Turkey and turned the Aegean Sea into a frozen conflict area in line with their own interests. Thus, the two neighboring countries armed themselves far beyond their budgets, and nourished the West's arms industry. While Europe was dragged into a fascist quagmire, Greece's Megali Idea was constructed together with Nazi fascism. In this process, Greece was made to take the following steps in accordance with the Megali Idea:

Increasing airspace in the Aegean Sea to 10 nautical miles (1931)

Increasing the territorial sea from three nautical miles to six nautical miles (1936)

Annexation of the Dodecanese and Kastellorizo and arming these islands (1947)

An attempt to disrupt the legal status quo, which was established by agreements in Cyprus, with a coup (1974)

Exploring oil off the shore of the Aegean Sea together with claiming the area's continental shelf (1978)

Beginning to plant flags and establishing facilities on the unclaimed islets and rocks in the Aegean Sea (1992)

Cooperating with the Greek Cypriot administration, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Syria, Albania and Armenia respectively in the fields of defense and military (1995)

Landing troops on Imia islets (1996)

After the International Maritime Law was put into force, the Greek Parliament authorized the government to expand territorial waters up to 12 miles when necessary (1995)

All of these steps caused the Cyprus issue to remain unresolved and caused Greece to arm far beyond its budget and size of economy, and to become the main trigger of the current crisis.

In short, nationalist policies that were applied to Turkey via the Cyprus issue are the past ingenuities of the troika that robbed the Greek people.

So, Tsipras, as stated above, has no other way other than opting for peace and internationalism. To this end, he needs Turkey and Turkey's friendship.