By Jessica Bateman
Chania, Greece

When a Syrian stonemason and his family were granted asylum in Greece last year they immediately made their way to the island of Crete – completing a journey begun by their great-grandparents 130 years ago.

Entering a small shop in Chania, on Crete’s north-west coast, Ahmed began to introduce himself. The owner looked at him open-mouthed. He understood what Ahmed was saying, but some of the words he was using were unfamiliar and old-fashioned, and others he didn’t understand at all. It was as though Ahmed had arrived not just from Syria, but from another age.

“He could not believe that someone was still speaking the old language today,” says Ahmed.

Ahmed, 42, was speaking in a version of the Cretan dialect he had learned from his parents, growing up in a village in northern Syria in the 1970s and 80s. His parents had spent all their lives in Syria – but some members of the previous generation had been born in Crete and, living together as exiles, they had kept Cretan culture alive.

“We learned Arabic at school but always spoke Greek at home,” says Ahmed. Children learned Greek dances and recited short Cretan poems known as mantiades. The parents passed on traditional Cretan recipes, such as fried snails, and intermarriage with the Syrian population was rare. Ahmed’s wife, Yasmine, is also from a Cretan family.

Ahmed’s father’s parents were forced to leave Crete in the 1890s as the Ottoman Empire weakened. The island had been part of the empire for two centuries and roughly a quarter of the population, including Ahmed’s ancestors, had converted to Islam. But uprisings in the late 19th Century resulted in the expulsion of the Muslim population.

Some went to Turkey, Libya, Lebanon or Palestine, but Ahmed’s family travelled to al-Hamidiyah, a village in Syria established for the refugees by Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II.

In later years its 10,000 inhabitants would keep in contact with modern Crete by watching Greek television via satellite and occasionally villagers would travel back to the island to work.

“There was always a fragment of Crete in our hearts,” says Ahmed.

“Everyone knew exactly which village everyone else’s family came from. Our grandparents would say how beautiful Crete was and how they had everything they needed there.

“We always wanted to visit, but never had the chance.”

Then Syria’s civil war came, and left them little choice.

Ahmed’s sisters, Amina, Faten and Latifa, and their families were the first to leave. Ahmed himself struggled to find work after suffering from a slipped disk and had difficulty scraping together the money to pay a people smuggler. But finally he, Yasmine and their four children – Bilal, 14, Reem, 12, Mustafa, nine, and four-year-old Fatima – set off for Greece in the spring of 2017.

The journey took three months and included a perilous boat trip from Turkey to the Greek island of Lesbos, on a dinghy that almost sank. When the family attended their first asylum application interview, Ahmed purposely placed his finger next to his distinctively Cretan surname – Tarzalakis – when asked to show his passport.

“He started shouting to his colleagues, ‘Look, look, there’s a Cretan here! Come and see!'” Ahmed says. “Everyone started crowding round out of curiosity.”

Although many Greeks were aware that Cretan enclaves existed overseas, they were still intrigued by the Tarzalakis family dialect. Their accents are typically Cretan, but a lot of the vocabulary they learned in Syria is no longer used either in Crete or mainland Greece.

“But with a bit of patience, we can understand each other,” says Ahmed. 

And although they speak the language they have never learned to read or write it, so they still needed assistance to fill out forms.

After a month on Lesbos, Ahmed and his family were granted asylum in August 2017. They immediately caught a boat to Crete, where Ahmed’s sisters, two cousins and their families, already living in the town of Chania, were waiting for them.

On arrival, Ahmed was immediately hospitalised, because of problems stemming from chronic epilepsy. Medical staff, amazed to hear the old dialect being spoken, called a reporter from the local paper.

“When I left hospital everyone in the town already knew me,” says Ahmed, whose family was settled in an apartment near Chania’s historic Venetian port.

“People would stop me in the street to ask questions about Syria and the war.

“They view us as Cretans that have returned.”

Ahmed then made a pilgrimage to his grandparents’ native village, Skalani, just outside the capital, Heraklion.

Walking down its streets, gazing at the shady tavernas and small stone houses, he felt goosebumps all over his body. Although it was his first time visiting the village, he’d been hearing about it all his life.

“I couldn’t find their exact houses, but the locals showed me the fields that the Muslim community would have worked on,” he says. 

Ahmed and his siblings have to tread carefully when looking into their family history. “I don’t want the people living there to think I’m trying to claim the land back,” says Ahmed’s brother-in-law, Mustafa.

The family is learning to read and write modern Greek and the children are enrolled in school. “We’re learning new phrases but we’ll still hold our own language close, because it’s part of who we are,” says Ahmed.

Although Chania had no Muslim community for more than a century, things are now changing. As well as the 25 members of Ahmed’s family, several hundred refugees from the Middle East have settled in the town over the past few years. The long-closed Ottoman mosque on the seafront is now used as an art gallery, so Muslims pray in rented rooms.

A recently-opened Arab supermarket sells imported goods, and Ahmed and his family enjoy eating a fusion of local and Syrian food, such as Greek salad, pitta bread, and hummus.

So far, Crete is not quite the land of milk and honey described by Ahmed’s grandparents. He’s grateful for financial assistance from the EU-funded Estia (Home) programme, run by the UNHCR, but says it’s not enough to bring up four children. The men in the family would like to set up a stonemasonry business and the women talk about doing bridal hairdressing, but that remains a goal for the future.

And although Ahmed appreciates the chance to experience life in his ancestors’ homeland, the circumstances that led him here make the experience bittersweet.

“When you are forced to leave the place you were born, you lose a part of yourself,” he says. 

“If it was safe for us to return to al-Hamidiyah, then I would. But I would like to keep ties with Crete and visit regularly.”

Photographs by Louiza Vradi

Alberto Camastra had never lived anywhere but Damascus. But as Syria’s war closed in around his family, Alberto’s long-dead grandfather – a man he had never met – offered a way out.

The PACE spring session started today, on the agenda of which the issue of preservation of cultural and religious values ​​was discussed. Naira Zohrabyan, a member of the Prosperous Armenia parliamentary group, spoke about Azerbaijani vandalism in Armenian settlements under the control of the Azerbaijani armed forces after the November 10 capitulation agreement, noting that in the 21st century, a fascist state desecrates and destroys Armenian cultural monuments. The woman personally instructs to remove all traces of Armenianness from the churches.

Naira Zohrabyan called on the Assembly to send an observation mission to the Armenian settlements under the control of Azerbaijan and to stop the cultural vandalism of the 21st century. The Armenian MP presented Ali’s anti-Armenian statements to the Assembly, noting that the Assembly should silence Ali, who considers Armenians dogs and dogs. In his speech, Zohrabyan said. “Dear Colleagues, Mrs. Kovacs, you have prepared a wonderful report on the importance of the protection of the identity, culture and religion of national minorities in Europe.

Yes, you are right. Preserving the identity of national minorities is an important issue today. However, the protection of human rights and the protection of cultural and religious values ​​are equally important in countries that have not yet been recognized. Today I will talk about Artsakh, most of which came under the control of Azerbaijan under the November 10 agreement. Today I will sound another alarm in connection with the destruction of centuries-old Armenian cultural monuments in Artsakh – churches, khachkars, monasteries, vandalism – and I will address our Assembly to form an observation mission, visit Armenian settlements under Azerbaijani control and see the state of Armenian cultural heritage. Immediately after the signing of the November 10 agreement, Azeri militants desecrated the Armenian Genocide Memorial in Shushi, desecrated the Green Hour Church in Shushi. Gabriel) The disappearance of the Holy Mighty Church. We all saw how Aliyev and his wife were instructing in front of the cameras to delete the Armenian letters from the Armenian churches. And all this is happening in the 21st century. Dear Colleagues, This report also speaks about incitements to ethnic hatred, and I will present to you the anti-Armenian and racist statements made by the President of Azerbaijan in the last few months, which have not been evaluated so far. “We will continue to expel those liars, the Armenians. For 30 years Artsakh has been in the hands of wild monsters, wild beasts, jackals. We have succeeded in isolating Armenia from all international and regional programs.

” These are Aliyev’s words. “The younger generation has grown up with hatred for the enemy, and the results of this war are the result of that upbringing,” Aliyev said at a March 5 congress of the New Azerbaijan Party. Another example. Aliyev’s famous words, “We will expel the Armenians like dogs,” and just like that, “Praise iti”, that is, expel them like dogs, they called their new production drones. Dear colleagues, In the Armenian settlements under the control of Azerbaijan, the Armenian cultural heritage, which is part of the world culture, is endangered: hundreds of churches, monasteries, sanctuaries, khachkars. The generation that grew up with hatred for Armenians desecrates those monuments with joyful screams and spreads the videos on social media. This vandalism must be stopped. Otherwise, it will be too late, as it was too late in the case of the destruction of medieval Armenian khachkars in the Jugha settlement of Nakhichevan, when while we were thinking what to do, the Azeris razed those unique monuments of world culture to the ground. ”

President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian together with Human Rights Defender Arman Tatoyan paid a working visit to Syunik Province on April 19.

As ARMENPRESS was informed from the press service of the President’s Office, Armen Sarkissian visited one of the military positions, got acquainted with the living conditions of the servicemen and talked with them.

President Sarkissian awarded a group of servicemen for excellent service.

Armen Tatoyan noted that he has visited that positions a few times, where the servicemen carry out a really heroic duty in harsh conditions.

‘’You carry out your responsibilities best. Help each other, be vigilant and take care of your health. Remember your families, serve your motherland and help each other’’, President Sarkissian said, wishing all safe service and successful demobilization. ”Be sure, we are all thinking about you. Stay firm”, Sarkissian concluded.

The opposition Armenian Revolutionary Federation Dashnaksutyun (ARF-D) has announced its plans to join the campaign for possible parliamentary elections, expressing its commitment to oust the current government as a major evil to the country.

In a recently released statement, members of the party say they arrived at the decision at their 24th Supreme Assembly earlier today “after a consideration of the political and security-related situation in Armenia and an evaluation of the dominating sentiments and atmosphere in public life”. Also, the internal and external post-war challenges are cited as a major concern.

The ARF-D condemns the current authorities for attempts to ensure their self-reproduction through the process, highlighting the crucial role of pre-term elections for the preservation of the Armenian national identity and statehood.

It has reserved the decision-making authority to the ARF-D Supreme Body in Armenia, which will be responsible for determining the format of participation and a range of other technical issues.

The party also reiterates its call upon the Armenians to pursue the campaign towards unseating the current government (in case of any scenario), citing the safe future of the country as a pressing demand on their agenda.

We need the international community’s strong efforts to rapidly react to the recently inaugurated “Military Trophies Park” in Baku to have real guarantees that the enforcement of international law will be essentially protected, says Danièle Cazarian, a member of the French National Assembly representing the department of Rhône. 

In an interview with Tert.am, the French-Armenian politician addressed the global political players’ role in the Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) peace process, focusing especially on her country’s efforts and expressing regret about the OSCE Minsk Group mission’s not quite effective work.  

“I regret to say that the OSCE Minsk Group did not work effectively. I sincerely hope France will urge and engage all the interested sides to find common ground for the captives’ return and the elimination of all forms of violence in Artsakh. The destruction of Armenian cultural heritage is the proof of Azerbaijan’s policy of pursuing ethnic cleansing. That is why, I think, international recognition is the only way towards ensuring the protection of Artsakh. And that is what the French parliament has actually represented,” she said. 

Commenting on the French authorities’ collaboration with Armenia, the lawmaker stressed her good working relations with the Armenian ambassador in Paris (and close contact with him like many colleagues from different political parties in France).  

“It is not anyway my responsibility to evaluate a foreign government’s work in France, but you may have no doubt that the mobilization of French citizens of Armenian descent was very effective in terms of raising awareness of Artsakh,” Cazarian added. 

She said she was terrified by the Azerbaijani authorities’ move to open the trophy park featuring mannequins of Armenian soldiers. “That too, constitutes a blatant violation of international treaties. Now that the war is over, Baku must immediately halt all the forms of provocation to demonstrate the kind of conduct that would be in line with the agreement signed in Moscow. To protect the enforcement of international law, we urgently need an abrupt reaction by the international community, including France and the EU. I officially asked the French foreign minister about the Armenian POWs’ return. And I will remain extremely vigilant when it comes to this very important issue,” she said. 

In the large Hayrapetyan family, the house of Khtsaberd has been seen only in dreams only for half a year. Now their house is one of the hotels in Goris, and although they do not feel lack of care here, they still sleep and wake up with thoughts about Khtsaberd.

One of the children regularly shows the videos of the ongoing robbery in the villages of Hadrut, the grandfather, 72-year-old Misha Hayrapetyan, is silently waiting to speak in his turn.

The bride of the family, 45-year-old Narine, left the newly built house, fertile gardens, shop and most importantly, her beloved bees in Khtsaberd. He is sure they will meet again. The only “source” of this optimistic belief, to which Mrs. Narine regularly refers, are again her dreams and the Dizapayt who “marks” her through them.

Misha Hayrapetyan

I participated in the war of the 90s with my two sons. How do they irritate the bee hive, that’s how they irritated us. At that time, if a Turk stole a chicken, if you complain, the Turk is not guilty. Even if the judge was Armenian. This is how the time is. But if an Armenian goes with a needle, takes a chop from the Turkish yard … That’s it. The glass of patience was full. The law of that country has never applied to us. Then the situation was that the Turks started stealing cattle, then they started taking hostages and killing shepherds.

To tell the truth, we were less armed, but we were united, we loved each other, that was the first guarantee of victory. As soon as we united, we drove them to Zhdan, also from Horadiz. It was our unity, our unity, loving each other that we won that victory.

Now, if there is no unity in the family, they should be separated, they should be dispersed, right? It happened to us as well. They did not listen to each other, they did not respect each other, and the Turk was waiting for that. For 30 years he tried to fight every day, every day, but he did not succeed. As soon as they found our omission, they won. Although I must say that I am 72 years old, I have lived with the Turks most of my life, I have no doubt that if the Azeris and the Armenians had remained face to face, they would not have won.

The fist of one, the sword of the other

As long as the world exists, we will be a neighbor of Azerbaijan, and they will be us. The leaders of the countries should strive to preach solidarity, not one to draw his fist, the other his sword. It is not the grace of the leader. Even if there is an opportunity to live together, I will not see it anymore. The leader of Azerbaijan is Aliyev, he shows his fist, he irritates people, doesn’t he? The elder of the house must be patient.

They also fled like us in time. What is the escape, they were running away, pushing each other. I remember, I remember very well. Is the fear small, is the panic small? The whole of Zangelan, Kubatlu, were given train carriages to the Turks so that each family could load their goods. Azerbaijan was evacuating. The Armenians cut Horadiz against those wagons and robbed him. Yes, we … I do not blame anyone for that today. The valley of Araks to be handed over is not my end, but now our young people are gone. Now they are angry, the youth is angry, and Hadrut is with them. What was good?

I do not believe that the Turks will give back Hadrut well. When they come, they say. “Dear Armenians, come, welcome.” I do not know the rest. Uncertain situation. Now there are demonstrations in Yerevan every day. One group closes this road, one group closes the other. 6 months have passed. Have we taken a piece during 6 months?

“We will win” …

My son and daughter-in-law were working in Gabriel’s regiment. On the first day of the war, my daughter-in-law called: “Let’s go to Khokhenq, the fight has started.” Then we saw that the fight was deepening, only men, women and children were left in the village and evacuated. I also brought my wife and grandchildren to Goris and returned. Well, my house, my place, there is a lake … I cultivated my garden under the sounds of the bombing, I said, it’s one, ours must win. We did not know that this Ottoman had interfered. Half of the melon is left … The potato is in the ground, hanging from the beans. After all, if they had said in advance, we would have brought the stones of the village as well. There was no one on foot in the village, everyone had a car, but no one took anything out. After all, say, take it out, it is not possible. But they said, “We will win” …

The Turkish army had reached under Kornidzor, everyone was afraid that the road would be closed, they left quickly, we did not bring any clothes. The neighboring population from the neighboring villages, many of them took refuge in our village, at the same time we got in the car and ran away. We passed Kornidzor, the Turks got there, blocked the road.

Ancient Odzaberd

During the Soviet era, we had 75 houses in the village, about 450 inhabitants. Before this last war, some 120-130. The adults have died, the young people have moved, in recent years the young people do not want to live in the village. Well, life was better in our village than before, but the girl living in the village has to milk a cow, she has to sleep in the garden, but the manicure is not going to do that job. That is why our young people did not get married, they said there is no girl, they do not come to the village. There has not been a wedding in the village for several years. That is the reason, nothing else. Livelihood is good, only I have 60 cows, 20 horses, the areas are endless. The employee would live.

The name of our village was Odzaberd, then it became Khtsaberd. They say

The owner of the oil had built a special house for his son on the mountain, because as many children as he had were dying, that’s left. He hid it so that he could stay alive. The servants took grapes in baskets for that child, do not say that the snake is in the middle. The snake bit the boy, and the child died. The name of our village has been Odzaberd since then, I have heard it that way. Our ancestors came from Karadagh, Karadagh region of Iran.

Old Khtsaberd was completely destroyed and burnt down due to the bombing. I built the first house in the new district of the village in 2004. Thus, the village was moved a little to the side so that the roads would be convenient and cars could pass easily. The sports hall, everything was beautifully made. Now who knows what they did.

Narine Hayrapetyan

I was born in Tumi, I came to Khtsaberd in 1994. My husband and I were engaged for 6 months, but he was injured and lost his leg. But I accepted him that way, it was my destiny, I did not give up on him. He prosthetized his leg, came, said, “We must get married,” I said, there is no question. There was no car during the fight, the roads were closed, they brought me to Khtsaberd on a mountain. There were many victims in both Tumi and Khtsaberd, we celebrated our joy in a quiet environment, very modestly. 5 years later I had a son, he died, then my new daughter was born. My children were born in free time, in free Hadrut.

I kept bees. I am still with them in my dreams. Beekeeping is a completely different life, every negative energy is carried by bees, the bee is a very good thing. When we had just gotten married, I thought a lot about how we were going to live and what we were going to do in this post-war situation. My husband said. “What are you most afraid of?” I said to the bees. He said, “Well, we will start from that.”

“The stick reminds me of my dream that we will return”

On the morning of September 27, we took the animals out and came home to go to work. At the first moment I heard, my eldest daughter called from Shushi. “Mama, I’m in the basement. If you can, take me.” We waited, it was getting dark, my husband brought my daughter to the village at midnight when the car lights were off. He suggested many other people move to our village as a safe

place. But people did not come, they said. “These two more days will pass.” Later, whoever came out of our Hadrut, all of them passed through our village to Goris.

At first we kept the refugees from Jabrail for a week, then after we saw the terrible situation, they were approaching Hadrut, a week later my husband evacuated the children with their guests to Goris. But I stayed. In the end, the village mayor and I were left alone. The village head already said. “This is not your place.” Before that, we filled the meat products of our shop, ice cream, everything in bags for the reservists, there is no light, there is nothing. On September 25, I received the goods for my shop, on September 27, the fight started. I still hope that we will return. I do not know, my inner voice tells me that we will return. I had land in 7 different sanctuaries of our village, Hadrut. I brought that alone and my father’s book “The Hadrut Dialect”. It is my great hope, it gives me strength. The stick in my dream reminds me, signals that we will return. But I do not care as much for us as for those children who died. One can adapt to everything except these human losses, the losses of innocent children.

I did not expect that Khtsaberd would be given. Our boys stayed until the end. They entered, took so many boys captive, it does not mean that they won, victory does not happen that way. To be honest, I was not as upset about the area as I was about the captive boys. Every morning and evening, every night my prayer is for them, for the captured Shirak boys in our village.

“Haram lands”

There have never been Turks in our village, but there were in Togh. I remember that we were taken to Togh vineyards for an excursion, we passed the Armenian district, then the Turkish one. There was not even a fight yet, the bus of our villagers was stoned by the Turks. My grandfather, grandmother, our elders always said that one day there would be a fight because they could not live with us. Our Tumi bus was stopped, the driver was beaten, a woman was killed inside, the Movement had just started, but there was no fight yet. They were buzzing to start a fight, we did not want a war.

I knew that there would be a war for lands, but I did not imagine that we would lose our ancestral homeland, our Hadrut. I do not want to say that we lost, no, we have still won. Because our boys have stood up to the end. We resisted. I was not against giving the occupied territories in peace, they were haram lands, let them give, we would live halal too.

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The locals associate the name Khtsaberd with the name of the historical fortress located in the village, Odzaberd, although according to another version, “Khtsaberd” may mean “a fortress hidden in the mountains and valleys.” Besides Odzaberd, there are also the ruins of Hazararprkich and Immate fortresses in the village, as well as the fortress-cave of Jalalvi. One of the important historical and cultural monuments of Khtsaberd is the half-ruined monastery of Yeghtsun Dzor, an abandoned village not far from the settlement

Source: https://mediamax.am/am/news/hadrut/42818/

Germany is not really interested in human rights and in the establishment of a real democracy in Turkey. Germany sees Turkey mainly as a trade partner and the citizens of Turkey as consumers of German products and as cheap labor in German factories. This is unfair.

Deniz ZENGİN

Today, our guest is Dr. Nikos Michailidis. We talked about European Union, the relationship between Greece and Turkey and the refugee crisis. Here is our interview.

Enjoy your reading.

What could you tell us about yourself, Mr. Michailidis?

My ancestors came to Greece as refugees from the Pontos (Black Sea) region after 1923. I grew up with the narratives of my great-grandparents about their lives in Pontos. So, naturally, I developed an interest in getting to know modern Turkey and its people better. So I started travelling to Istanbul, Trabzon, Gümüshane, Bafra, Sinop, Samsun and other parts of the Black Sea and Anatolia, making many friends.

After my undergraduate studies in Athens, I decided to do an MA degree in political science at Bogazici University. So I spent about three years in Istanbul.

My experiences in Turkey during those years led me to study cultural anthropology. I did my Phd in this field at Princeton University. In the context of that research, I spent about 2 years doing fieldwork in Turkey, mainly in Trabzon and Istanbul, but also in Ankara and Van. I studied the Pontic-Greek speaking Sunni communities of Trabzon and their musical and ethnic cultures. As a kemence performer myself, I was intrigued by the local performers and by the multiple meanings that kemence was carrying for these communities. It was a very rewarding experience and I got the opportunity to better understand the sociocultural and political dynamics of modern Turkey. I always say that Turkey is a nice ”laboratory” for social scientists.

Deniz Yücel, an employee of the German News Agency Die Welt, completed a 1-year prison sentence. Chancellor Merkel called on Erdogan for Yucel to be quickly returned to Germany. Is Germany working in the democratic interest their own country? If this is acceptable, why do we accept the double standard of the detention of Altan, Demirtaş, Kavala and thousands of other anonymous politicians?

It is tragic to see those people imprisoned by the current regime. Some of them have been released but it is not enough. Ankara is using them as a bargaining tool against western governments, as it does with refugees.
I am afraid that Germany is not really interested in human rights and in the establishment of a real democracy in Turkey. Germany sees Turkey mainly as a trade partner and the citizens of Turkey as consumers of German products and as cheap labor in German factories. This is unfair.

It is totally unacceptable that EU does not take any substantial initiative about democracy and freedoms in Turkey. I think that the only country in the EU that really and sincerely cares about the future of democracy and human rights in Turkey is Greece.

Tens of thousands of people have been expelled by legal decree. Their passports and diplomas have been revoked and some of them have served time in prison. How does the government expect the Turkish people to react to this policy?

I think that we shouldn’t talk about a ”government” in Turkey. We are talking about a violent, brutal regime that is based on persecution. Thus, it is not legitimate. It is based on illegality and pure force. I think that this situtation creates the right and legitimacy to the persecuted citizens of Turkey to resist and respond in every possible means. It is this brutality and state violence that obliged citizens of Kurdish descent to mobilize themselves politically and to create an resistance movement. Uncontrolled, mass state violence is responsible for the tragic condition in which Turkey finds itself and for the social violence that has risen in the last 30 years. Persecuted citizens should also do their best to organize themselves in Europe and create a huge international pressure group on foreign governments to modify their policies against the Turkish regime.

Will the EU will play a role in the democratization of Turkey? If so, how will the process work going forward?

For the time being, I don’t see EU being able to play a role in the democratization of Turkey and this is mainly due to Germany’s pro-Turkish regime policies. The democratic forces of Turkey must put pressure on Germany to change its unethical policy. The EU could contribute a lot, if it was allowed to by Germany. The EU can develop projects to support real opposition forces in Turkey, create media platforms to give voice to all the persecuted groups, impose serious sanctions on the Turkish regime, finance various sociocultural activities for the support of democracy, de-list PKK from its ”terrorism lists” and push for dialogue and a democratic solution to the Kurdish problem, freeze customs union with Turkey, restrict the movement of regime representatives in the EU, put a serious pan-European arms embargo, and more.

What exactly is intended to be done in the Eastern Mediterranean? What Greece wants? What is Turkey’s goal for the future? Which country’s formula be accepted in the end?

This is not a matter of a ”country’s formula”, it is wrong to present it as such. There are international rules. Turkey has invaded and occupies lands in at least 3 neighboring countries. This is unacceptable.

The tension in the eastern mediterranean is not simply an issue between Greece and Turkey. Greece is collaborating with all its Mediterranean neighbors based on international law and the law of the seas, which Turkey does’t recognize, and this is where the problems begin. The war regime of Turkey behaves as the bully of the neighborhood, direspecting international law, and its neighbors’ sovereignity and rights. The Turkish regime is always trying to present its expansionist agenda to the international public as ”bilateral problems”, pretending to be the side that wants dialogue. This is pure propaganda.

Turkey maintains occupation forces on Cyprus, and it is trying to impose it’s arbitrary views on everyone. The Turkish regime is applying expansionist policies against Greece. And of course Greece is resisting and calling for a dialogue on the basis of international law and UNCLOS.

US-Turkish relations, regarding the Brunson crisis which was resolved with the priest’s deportation, has caused much tension in the religious community. Is it Erdogan’s point of view that he wishes to instigate an Islamic & Christian showdown, like opening Hagia Sophia to worship?

It is really hard to say what T.Erdogan has in his mind. I think he is trying to survive politically. But his moves undermine his position and legitimacy. It is as if he is trying to commit political suicide. I also think he has very bad advisors and even worse collaborators (MHP etc). If he was a visionary leader, with democratic aspirations and sincere willingness to coexist peacefully with neighbors, he would have turned Hagia Sophia into a Christian Church and would give it back to the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Istanbul, as all the other Orthox Christian monuments in Anatolia. That would be a great gesture to the Orthodox Christian world that would seriously improve the international image of his country. Instead of all these, he chose to support jihadist terrorists, and to behave like a mafia leader. His reputation is seriously damaged. I am sure that his ”supporters” in the old kemalist establishment are quite happy. The Turkish political elites suffer from a complex of inferiority vis-a-vis the West. They like to think of themselves and their country as a ”world power”, but nobody takes them seriously. But this maddness is going to cost a lot to the people of Anatolia and Mesopotamia.

When Leyen and Michel arrived last week, there was a Sofagate. They faced pressure from Erdogan. European Union authorities on their way to deal with Erdogan, why did the Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias show off? Could you please evaluate this issue in terms of the refugee crisis?

Many Europeans have fallen victims to Erdogan’s threats about sending millions of migrants and refugees to Europe. This is a mafia style blackmail. Turkey played a central role in the creation of these refugees by engaging in war in Syria and elsewhere. But among these refugees we also see people from Somalia and Central Asia, countries with which Turkey maintains close ties. These are countries that are not in war. Simply put, Ankara is engaged in human traficking and this is a very serious crime. It is not the first one that the Turkish state has committed though.

I think that the Greek Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Nikos Dendias, did a great job in Ankara, and he did not allow the Turkish regime to spread its usual propaganda to internal and international audiences. We should all thank him about his stance, and above all the democratic forces of Turkey. Mr.Dendias spoke the language of truth. Turkey is using the migrant/refugee crisis as a tool to threaten EU in order to gain concessions, and it keeps threatening Greece and Cyprus and of course other neighbors. Turkey has zero relations with most of its neighbors.

I think that Europe should follow Mr.Dendias’ example and take a sincere stance against the Turkish regime. Appeasing the Ankara regime will only lead to more instability and chaos in the region. It is time for the West to seriously deal with what everyone now describes as the new “Turkish problem”.

Source: https://gazetedavul.com/news/dr-nikos-michailidis-i-dont-see-eu-being-able-to-play-a-role-in-the-democratization-of-turkey-18299.html