Nikos Mpiniaris: The (neo) Ottoman come back and the EU as an “empty shirt”

Let us, just this once, bypass the issue of the Greek-Turkish and Turkish–Cypriot crises, something which has never been taken seriously either by Greece itself, or by the United States, or by the EU, which doesn’t even entertain such ideas. Let’s instead look at Turkey’s behavior within NATO and the “drunken boat” (as Rimbaud would say) that is West, in relation to its “values” and fundamental interests.

We are therefore facing a new historical moment for the region and the European continent. The “sick man of Europe” is back! He now seeks a share of the power and wealth that was “stolen” by the cruel European colonialists and imperialists, from the Balkan Wars to the conditions of Sevres, Lausanne, and the concession of the Dodecanese to Greece.

Turkey considers that it is capable of participating in negotiating tables for the fate of its neighbors, but also beyond that, the fate of other Islamic states and peoples, such as the Uighurs of China, as well as the Turkish and Islamic peoples living in the EU. So the EU is facing a new historical reality.

Four parameters

The parameters of this new reality are as follows: The first concerns Erdogan’s personal prestige in Turkish and international public opinion. No one can plan a policy towards Turkey if it does not reflect positively on the image of Erdogan and his plans.

The second parameter is the ideology of neo-Ottomanism, which is inextricably linked to Islam, as it is interpreted by Turkish thought and practice. This thought is also inextricably linked to the populations of Turkic origin in Central Asia and the idea of pan-Turkism.

The third aspect is that Turkey has made great economic strides in the last 20 years, succeeding in becoming an economy based on industrial output and the export trade. Turkey is now a member of the G-20! Of course, this success has proved to have limits and has not yet been consolidated as an economy with solid foundations.

However, Turkey builds drones with British and Israeli technology, builds warships, has huge construction companies, does oil and gas exploration on its own, and has a large black economy that can keep the rest alive for a while. In the current geopolitical games of Turkey one must also include its needs to secure funds either from the EU, or from Russia, or from China, or from the USA, or from Qatar and Kuwait, in order to be able to operate the engine of its economy and avoid a financial crash.

The fourth parameter is that Turkey does not function or imagine that it is simply a regional power in the Eastern Mediterranean. It believes that it is a great world power. Intervention in favor of Shiite Azeris clearly states that Turkey transcends the traditional dividing lines between Sunnis and Shiites and intervenes as an Islamic superpower.

This must be understood in order to decipher the significance of the current crisis in the Caucasus. Last year at the UN, Erdogan spoke of “it is not fair” that only Israel to have nuclear weapons in the region, and that there should be a Muslim state in the Security Council, like the other five major powers.

Europe is an “empty shirt”

We know that Europe is not Christian and that the Christians of the Caucasus – the “Armenian dogs” according to Turkish Foreign Minister Cavusoglu – may suffer a new genocide by Sunni Turks and Shiite Azeris. We know that Europe has no borders, despite recent statements by some leaders, such as Austrian Chancellor Kurtz. We also know that there is no European army and that for 75 years Europe has relied on the US for its defense.

It is also well known that many Europeans no longer believe in the EU. So what is Europe in relation to the world that has developed in the last few years? Knowing what an entity is not, does not mean that we know what it is, that is, what properties it has. “The EU will continue to work with Turkey to resolve conflicts and stop fighting like this between Armenia and Azerbaijan,” says the EU.

So we are learning that the EU has the capacity to be able to talk to Turkey, as a new power, that has a decisive influence on the events in Europe in order to find solutions to the conflicts on the European continent and elsewhere. So let us not expect any result from the Greek-Turkish talks. The issue will be resolved by the EU-Turkey talks, with us present. As for our sovereign rights, they count as much as they counted when the Anglo-French had occupied Athens in 1854-57, or Thessaloniki and Athens, in 1917!

I doubt whether a European citizen can now trust the EU and its institutions, either for economic prosperity or for internal and external security. The so-called hegemony of Germany proves to be an “empty shirt” which unfortunately does not cover the fact that the “emperor is naked”, since it also seems that it has never existed as a subject. The only thing that has existed and exists is the well-tuned German bureaucracy and, in a nutshell, its automobile industry and its exports.