Saturday, December 16, 2017

Reviving an Ancient Feud

With a shrunken Russia no longer bordering Turkey, Turkey has felt free to move closer to Russia. Could Turkey seek to take territory from Greece and leave NATO?

This makes me uneasy:

Mr Erdogan said the 1923 treaty that settled Turkey's borders after World War One was not being applied fairly.

But Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos rejected any change to the Treaty of Lausanne.

Not that territory came up. But that's the simplest way for Turkey to strike back at Greece for alleged failings in adhering to the treaty--which Greece denies.

And the only way it makes sense for Turkey to go with the Russian S-400 air defense system is if Turkey worried it might have conflict with NATO and doesn't want to have their air defenses compromised by being integrated into NATO:

Turkish and Russian officials will meet to finalize Turkey's S-400 surface-to-air missile systems deal in the coming week, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday.

America was barely able to suppress Greek-Turkish fighting under the umbrella of NATO and in the face of common Soviet threats to Europe.

Indeed, while Greece shows up better in the measure of defense spending as a percent of GDP, it should never be interpreted as a sign of NATO enthusiasm. That spending is intended to defend against the ancient foe and imperial master, Turkey.

If Turkey really exits NATO as the rumor mill has repeatedly speculated about, Turkey should be removed from EUCOM's area of responsibility and placed in CENTCOM's portfolio as the northwest portion of the Middle East.

Yes, it would basically be a demotion. A well-deserved demotion in recognition of Erdogan's move to turn Turkey away from Westernization and back into a Middle Eastern Islamic autocracy.