The mention of greek and Turkish grievances reminds one of a movie, The Spice Republic.
The male protagonist is called Vannis, a Greek boy from Istanbul, who has always had a crush on the Turkish little girl Shanmei. The two of them had a pleasant childhood in Grandpa Vannis's spice shop.
However, political and national divisions undermined the happy family, and Vannis and his parents were expelled from Athens for being converted to Greeks, while his grandfather, a Turkish citizen, was left behind.
In the movie, the scene where the two part for the first time
This experience, according to Vannis, was: "The Turks drove us away because we were Greeks; the Greeks took us in but regarded us as Turks." It wasn't until more than thirty years later that Vannis, who had become a professor of Greek astronomy, was able to return to his former "hometown" Turkey to find his first love.
The whole film is very loving to integrate Greek Orthodox elements and Turkish Islamic characteristics into the storyline and background, which is witty and not lacking in wisdom.
To tell the truth, in addition to this co-production film, for more than half a century, it can be said that greece and Turkey, which face each other across the Aegean Sea, have hardly cooperated in other aspects, and the two countries, as NATO's "allies", have long been "imaginary enemies" of each other militarily.
They have historically been feuded, and there are still irreconcilable territorial disputes, with old enmity and new resentment. For example, the most well-known institution of higher learning in Greece, the University of Athens, has the most accomplished academic field among its affiliated schools of international relations, which is called the "Department of Turkish and Modern Asian Studies".
To tell the truth, taking a country that is not a world power as the main research object and becoming a key discipline funded by a special fund shows the depth of the "competition" between the two sides.
Greece generously paddled the coastline to turkey's doorstep
These two countries have too many entangled histories.
In 1453, after the complete collapse of the Byzantine Empire, Turkey began to rule Greece for nearly 400 years. During this period, there were all kinds of repression and bloody massacres; but there was also a history of absorbing and training them to become officials in the DPRK, up to the prime minister; in the country's highest scientific research institutions, a large number of Greeks and Jews were also active; Christians and Muslim local tycoons often became righteous knots, one hand pressing the Bible, the other hand pressing the Qur'an, and swearing an oath. Even, at the end of the 16th century, the de facto ruler of the Ottoman Empire, The Sultan Empress Kosem, whose original name was Anathea, was a native Greek girl.
In the first six episodes of the Turkish drama "Magnificent Century - Kosem", I really found an actor of Greek descent to play the girlish Kosem
In general, however, ordinary Greeks under Ottoman rule, for the most part, were dismissed as second-class citizens.
For the citizens of the Ottoman Empire, the treatment and rights of people of different religions and nationalities were unequal. For example, according to islam's Zimi system, Greeks have the freedom to maintain their original religious beliefs, but Christian civilians are forbidden to carry weapons or ride horses; houses and religious buildings cannot be higher than Muslims; "sacred" green clothing is not allowed; religious activities are not allowed to conflict with Muslim regulations. Violations of these decrees are punishable by fines and by death. In addition, Christians pay more taxes and take on heavier chores than Muslims.
Under various oppressions, the Greeks set off several uprisings, but all of them were brutally suppressed by the Sultan until the outbreak of the Greek National War of Independence in 1821. With the strong support of Britain, France and Russia, Greece completely won its independence in 1833.
In the eyes of the West, the Greek War of Independence was very much in line with the trend of the nation-state at that time, and it was more religious. Therefore, throughout Europe, both official and civilian, Greece is widely supported, and many Northern Europeans not only donate money and materials in order to "liberate the Christian brothers oppressed by Muslims", but also choose to go to the battlefield of southern Europe to fight alongside the Greeks.
The famous English poet, Lord Byron, belonged to one of them. But unfortunately met a quack doctor, And before Byron could play, he died young in Greece.
Commemorative stamps of Byron issued in Greek dress in Suriat costumes (one of the traditional costumes of Greece).
After Greece's independence, through the single-handed operation of the West, Turkey was forced to divide 1/2 of the islands sandwiched between the two countries directly to Greece.
In return, Greece volunteered to be the british brother of southern Europe. Later, the British Empire, which was at its peak, successively transferred the islands around Turkey to Greece for various reasons. At the same time, the entire Western world has always been clearly biased in favor of Greece in the dispute between the two countries.
In this way, the area of Greece has been increasing, while the Ottoman Turkish Empire, which has become the "sick man of West Asia", is the opposite, and its territory is constantly encroached upon.
To this day, the turks are most angry with the two international treaties involving Greece – the London Peace Treaty of 1912 and the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923.
In May 1913, as a defeated country in the First Balkan War, Ottoman Turkey was fiercely suppressed by Britain, France and Russia, and signed the Treaty of London. In addition to recognizing the independence and sovereignty of the Balkan states, a large number of islands in the Aegean Sea were allocated to Greece. Since then, with the exception of the Decanes Islands (the Twelve Islands) in the southeast, which are still in Italian hands, more than 90% of the waters of the Aegean Sea and the islands have almost all belonged to Greece.
At this time, although the Turks were unwilling, they were helplessly no match for the great powers, and could only be slaughtered and recognized the division of the Aegean islands.
This also set the stage for the imminent First World War.
In 1914, after the outbreak of World War I, Ottoman Turkey, as an Allied power, bet its final bet on the two allies of Austria-Hungary and the Second German Empire.
Who knows, unexpectedly, these two seemingly powerful empires actually fell faster than the "sick man of West Asia" Osman.
In the end, Ottoman Turkey, which had once again become a defeated country, not only failed to "overturn", but was dismembered and torn apart. By 1920, taking advantage of the civil unrest caused by the Turkish coup, the Greeks directly sent troops to occupy the eastern part of the Anatolian Peninsula (Turkish Peninsula), with a great posture of restoring the "Byzantine Empire".
In view of the fact that the Greeks were so high-profile, they proclaimed themselves the heirs of the Eastern Roman Empire all day long, and they often shouted to return to Anatolia and restore the glory of the Byzantine Empire. For a time, the Western powers were deeply disturbed.
After all, none of the victorious powers, represented by Britain, want to see a newly rising Mediterranean power.
Therefore, after weighing the pros and cons, Britain and France abandoned their support for Greece. The desperate Turks also realized that if the other members of the Allies wanted to tear a piece of fat from the corpse of the Ottoman Empire, the Greeks were here to completely destroy the Turkish nation. At the time of life and death, the Turks were finally aroused by the fighting power of the return to the light, and fought back, driving the Greeks out of the Anatolian Peninsula.
However, as a defeated country, punishment from the Allies, Turkey naturally could not escape. It was only because of Turkey's revolt and Mustafa Kemal's revolution to "leave Asia and enter Europe" that the punishment was lighter.
In 1922, after Turkey's decisive victory in the war against Greece, the Allies agreed to abrogate the Treaty of Sèvres, which completely dismembered Turkey, and resumed peace talks in Lausanne, Switzerland.
In 1923, the Sultanate was abolished, and the Turkish Government, which had become a "republic", signed the Treaty of Lausanne with the Allies.
Although compared to the Treaty of Sèvres, the Treaty of Lausanne guaranteed Turkey's independence and territorial integrity within the mainland of Asia Minor, confirming Turkey's borders from the Black Sea to the Aegean Sea and the Mediterranean sea to Persia (present-day Iran). But overall, it is still full of repression and restrictions on Turkey. The most obvious of these is that, according to the treaty, Turkey's territorial waters in the Aegean Sea were limited to 3 miles.
Obviously, this also means that only Aegean islands that are no more than 3 miles from the country's coastline belong to Turkey.
However, for Turkey, which was like a fish under the knife of the West after the defeat, it was good to fight for breath and drive out the Greek army, and it would be good to leave a coastline in the direction of the Mediterranean, and what kind of bicycles were needed.
It was this Treaty of Lausanne that laid the foundation for modern Turkey.
But what makes the Turks even more uncomfortable is that after World War II, the United States and Britain and other countries in order to win greece, a "Paris Peace Treaty", and then directly assigned the surrounding Decanes Islands under Italian control to Greece.
Due to the close proximity of the Dodecanese Islands to turkey itself, the treaty does not specify the ownership of many of the islands under its jurisdiction, especially small islands and rocks. In this way, it will lay hidden dangers for the future dispute between Turkey and Greece.
The red part is the Dodecanese Islands
Since then, the Turks have completely lost most of the Aegean Sea and the islands under their jurisdiction – 2,500 islands between the two countries, and the Greeks account for more than 2,400, proudly drawing the border all the way to Turkey's doorstep.
It can be said that for the Turkish ships, in the direction of the Mediterranean, as long as they go to sea, they have not taken two steps to reach the Greek territory. Hold back more, hold back.
Therefore, we can also see that for a long time, when mentioning Turkey's maritime superiority, everyone thinks of it as the "human design" of NATO's front line against the Soviet Union/Russia in the Black Sea, and its southwest along the long coastline of the Mediterranean Sea is almost directly skipped by everyone. Only on the issue of the Cyprus dispute between Greece and Turkey, I have occasionally seen news reports.
And this situation actually belongs to the ideal state of the European and American powers. For a long time, Turkey, in order to seek benefits, has used the Black Sea to enter and exit the Mediterranean sea at every turn, and the necks of others in Dardanhiska have suffered losses in this regard, even the world's major powers such as the Five Permanent Members of the United Nations.
Then, with Greece's checks and balances on the Mediterranean side, it has obviously weakened the energy of Turkey's "fighting method" with the big powers.
At present, the international ownership of islands and reefs mainly adopts the method of historical evolution and treaty cession, and some between or outside that are easily controversial are almost adhering to the principle of "speaking with strength". Coupled with the favoritism of the great powers, today's Turkey, in addition to looking at the Mediterranean Sea and sighing, curses the other side every day, it seems that there is basically no room for reversal.