False spring

It means that a situation or relationship is unrealistic, temporary, and deceptive.

It is generally used for romantic relationships.

It describes the “honeymoon phase” in a relationship built on lies before the truth comes out. 

It expresses feelings of disappointment, hopelessness, and betrayal.

Its equivalent in nature is just as sad.

While winter reigns in all its majesty, trees, deceived by the sun showing its face for a moment, bud and flowers bloom. 

When the cold shows its face again, neither flowers nor buds remain.

Now, such a “false spring” is being marketed to us between Turkey and Greece. 

The path to Turkey acquiring F-16 jets from the US somehow required pleasing Greece. 

Aside from the F-16s being a strategic necessity for the air force, it was also important for stirring up the nationalist-conservative vein before the elections.

That is why, after badmouthing him so much, he went all the way to him, shook his hand, and showered him with praise, calling him “my friend.”

Yet, not even a year and a half ago, he had said, “For me, there is no one named Mitsotakis anymore. I will never accept having such a meeting with him. Because we walk with politicians who keep their word, who have character and honor,” and a few months after these words, he had openly threatened Greece by saying, “Your occupation of the islands or whatever does not concern us; when the time comes, we will do what is necessary. As we say, we may come suddenly one night.”

But before the visit, with a diplomatic maneuver unique to him, he made a U-turn and reversed course. He did not even feel the need to brush off the question asked, claiming that with those words, he was targeting the terrorist organization, not Greece.

Fortunately, the Greek journalists did not overstep their bounds too much, and the visit was concluded without any accidents or trouble.

In Turkey, however, pro-government newspapers, websites, and troll accounts wrote and drew about what happened in Athens with great exaggeration. 

Especially for my fellow citizens who crawl at consulate doors for a Schengen visa, are humiliated, and have their honor and pride trampled upon, the news of a 7-day gate visa for the Greek islands was like a godsend.

Every night on television, the permanent commentators, who have an opinion on almost every subject from onion menemen to the tunnels in Gaza, from the minimum wage to the engines of Merkava tanks, and from space mining to adolescent acne, were suddenly ecstatic with rhetoric of friendship and brotherhood, as if they were not the ones shouting war cries three days ago.

Let us not be fooled by this false spring atmosphere; let us keep the honor of journalism at the forefront and write the truth.

The most important file between Turkey and Greece is the Aegean issue.

Let us emphasize with a thick pen that it is impossible to speak of a lasting peace between Turkey and Greece unless there is a sharing in the Aegean that is primarily fair, but also considers the military and strategic balances between the two countries, is compatible with historical, geographical, and social realities, and unless political borders are drawn accordingly.

Anyone who claims otherwise is either a blind fool, a pathological liar, or has different calculations of their own.

In the current state of affairs, the Aegean stands before us as a complete tangle of problems. 

Until yesterday, while files such as the continental shelf, airspace, FIR line, Greece's arming of the islands in violation of the Treaty of Lausanne, and the disregard for the national identities of the Turks in Western Thrace and the Dodecanese were on the table, the Kardak crisis that erupted in 1995 brought up the issue of “islands, islets, and rocks whose sovereignty was not transferred to Greece by treaties” alongside all of these. 

Even worse, it was understood that it was impossible to address other topics without resolving this issue.

While thinking about what I can convert or sell from foreign policy to domestic politics and then indulging in deep rhetoric, Greece planted flags, built outposts, and constructed lighthouses on a significant portion of the “geographical formations,” estimated to be around 150, and incorporated them into its own borders.

With the situation as it is, he went to Athens 6 years later and said, "We want to make the Aegean a sea of peace and cooperation. I say it clearly, there is no problem between us that cannot be solved."

PLEASE, DISREGARD THESE.... 

Is there any concrete step?

Just a few flowery sentences, general declarations of intent, and diplomacy being conducted with oriental cunning in the background.

Fine, you won their hearts by receiving the family of Dr. Sadık Ahmet, the legendary figure of the Western Thrace cause, and the members of the Western Thrace Turkish Minority Advisory Board at the Athens Embassy!

But what about the forgotten Turks of the Aegean...?

Did you bring the handful of Turks struggling for existence in Rhodes and Kos to the agenda? 

Did you say that Turkish identity is being ignored in Rhodes and Kos? 

Or, if we go through religion and faith in a way that would interest you, did you show any reaction to the fact that the mosques inherited from the Ottoman Empire on these islands are being closed one by one? 

Did you ask in which mosque these people will perform their prayers? 

Or are the Island Turks less Muslim in your eyes than those in Gaza!

I can almost hear the diplomats saying, “We are handling these at a technical level.”

You shout and rant in front of the cameras because Israel is massacring Muslims in Gaza; well then, let's see you bring these issues to the agenda in front of the cameras.

The skill lies not in discussing these behind closed doors at the level of chief clerks, but in saying them while looking into the eyes of your Greek counterpart at the highest level.

However, let us not ask why my brother-in-law kissed me when there is no wedding or holiday!

On one hand, the salute given to the US for the F-16s, on the other hand, a crumb of honey fed to my fellow citizens with the 7-day gate visa to the Greek islands so there wouldn't be too much talk at home before the elections, and the generosity of telling Greece that we can share our nuclear energy with you.

According to the declaration signed in Athens, the two countries will engage in continuous, constructive consultations on political dialogue, a positive agenda, confidence-building measures, and so on... 

Yet another one of the hollow declarations of intent that has been repeated dozens, perhaps hundreds of times in the last 30 years!

Unfortunately, in Turkey, which grinds agendas like a millstone, this issue is talked about for at most three days and forgotten on the fourth. 

While our side, depending on the season and temperament, sometimes engages in rhetoric about the homeland, nation, and Sakarya, and other times gives speeches on friendship and brotherhood, Greece is strengthening its military, political, and strategic position against Turkey day by day. 

TURKEY, ON THE OTHER HAND, IS FALLING BEHIND IN ALMOST EVERY FIELD!

The critical balance between the two countries is unfortunately deteriorating against Turkey. No one in Athens intends to sit at the table because they know they are in an advantageous position in almost every respect. They do not want to lose this advantage.

Let us conclude our article by saying that forcing Greece to resolve the issues between the two countries and achieving results from the negotiating table requires a resolute foreign policy supported by military and social power, rather than rhetoric or unnecessary literature of friendship and brotherhood.