No one is saying 'the Turkish military should also curse,' but!...

The fact that some reckless individuals cursed Erdoğan and his family during the protests that began after the conviction of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, figuratively speaking, brought the state to its feet. Following the incident, which was condemned by almost all opposition parties, led by CHP Chairman Özgür Özel, 43 people were detained. Simultaneously, certain known AKP members made immoral insinuations about İmamoğlu's wife, Dilek İmamoğlu; yet, nothing happened to them.

While we were grappling with these insults, curses against Turkey also came from our neighbor.

As is known, March 25 was the 204th anniversary of the bloody uprising that Greece carried out against the Ottoman Empire, in which hundreds of thousands of Turks and Muslims were massacred.

Greece accepts this day as its “independence anniversary” and celebrates it as a “national holiday.”

Within the scope of this year's celebrations, a military parade was held, attended by the new President Konstantinos Tasoulas, who took office 12 days ago, as well as the Speaker of Parliament and Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. During this ceremony, students from the Greek Naval Academy shouted very heavy insults at Turkey and chanted slogans saying, “Cyprus is Greek.” The public also supported these insults with cheers of “bravo.”

The Turkish nation learned about this incident the next morning from reports in our media. However, there were remarkable details in the news.

As if acting as Greece's defense attorney, it was claimed that “Greek authorities stated the incident was unacceptable,” “the Greek General Staff reacted as soon as the video was released, the Naval Forces Command launched an investigation into the incident, and sources reported that disciplinary penalties would be imposed on the infantry involved.”

Is there any official statement from Greece other than “it was learned, it was reported, it was stated”? No!..

The reaction stated to have been shown by our Ministry of Foreign Affairs was conveyed in the same manner.

“According to information obtained from Foreign Ministry sources regarding the matter, it was stated that this behavior, which aims to undermine Turkey-Greece relations, is unacceptable. The sources emphasized that the slogans chanted by some members of the Greek Armed Forces were ‘insolent’ and reported that an explanation had been requested from Greek authorities regarding the issue. It is estimated that Turkish authorities hold Greek Defense Minister Dendias responsible for the incident.”

This is an important and serious matter. So, did this reaction shown to Greece, this statement that an “explanation” was officially requested, appear on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' website? No!..

Those sources or our media held Greek Defense Minister Dendias responsible for the incident again; however, the President, the Speaker of Parliament, and the Prime Minister were also present at the same ceremony.

Has there been any word from Erdoğan, his ministers, or the Speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey so far? No!..

THE PRESIDENT'S WORDS

The Greek Naval Academy students, besides the insults, chanted the slogan “Cyprus is Greek”; let us say more.

President Konstantinos Tasoulas, in his “independence anniversary” message published for Greeks abroad four days before that ceremony, said: “Despite more than 50 years having passed since the Turkish occupation, we do not forget our debt for a free and reunified Cyprus.”

This message was also published on the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs' website and X account.

In other words, is it possible that Ankara was not aware of this message at the very least, before that disgrace at the official ceremony?

Let us come to the ceremony; surely someone from our Athens Embassy was invited, or our officials watched it, right?

But what is this?

The following message was shared from our Athens Embassy's X account:

“We celebrate the National Day of our neighbor Greece's people and state.”

Let us assume they did not see or hear about the disgrace as of that hour. But did they not hear about it by the evening, so that they could warn Ankara?

Whether they were unaware or were aware and did not warn, it is a disgrace!..

CELEBRATION IN RESPONSE TO INSULTS

The reason we are drawing attention to this is as follows:

That same evening, Greece's Ambassador to Ankara, Theodoros Bizakis, held a reception on the occasion of Independence Day. Minister of Culture and Tourism Mehmet Nuri Ersoy and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Head of EU Affairs Mehmet Kemal Bozay attended this reception.

Supposedly, our Ministry of Foreign Affairs requested an “explanation” from Greece; before this, shouldn't participation in that reception have been canceled to protest the incident while it was still fresh?

Let alone canceling it, Minister of Culture and Tourism Ersoy not only praised the momentum gained in relations with Greece but also posted on his social media account: “We conveyed the most sincere greetings of our President, Mr. Erdoğan, at the reception held in Ankara.”

Although in the 2023 anniversary, Erdoğan himself sent congratulatory letters to Mitsotakis, and the then-Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu sent them to his counterpart Nikos Dendias, who is now the Minister of Defense, while the Greek media described this as a “surprise, unprecedented development,” ours considered it a “gesture” - that is another matter entirely!..

''NEIGHBOR, WASN'T THAT SHAMEFUL?''

Following the mysterious Foreign Ministry sources, two days after the disgrace, the Ministry of National Defense sources made a statement.

What they said was this:

“Military service has written and unwritten rules. The first of the unwritten rules is that what was done in Greece should not be done. The Turkish Armed Forces have distinguished themselves with their discipline, morality, and compassion. It is an army that stands out with its effective, deterrent, and respectable characteristics. You cannot and will not ever see such behavior from the TSK.”

Excuse me, but was there anyone saying, “The Turkish military should also curse Greece... chant the slogan ‘Cyprus is Turkish, will remain Turkish’”?

Are there no other ways of reciprocity, of protecting Turkey's honor?

At the very least, couldn't it have been said, “Our Minister, Mr. Yaşar Güler, called the Greek Defense Minister and requested an explanation... We are following up on the punishment of those soldiers”?.. At the very least, couldn't a reaction like “That was shameful, neighbor” have been shown?!

In short; it is clear that the struggle against external enemies is not even 1 percent of the struggle waged against “internal enemies.”

Müyesser YILDIZ

March 28, 2025