by Costas Souyoultzoglou and George Gratsos*
More than ever, the time has come to seriously account for the forces and fallacies that have allowed today’s leadership of the European Union to betray so blatantly its founding principles and values clearly stated in articles 2 and 7 of the EU Founding Treaty. The same applies to its failure to uphold the international Rule of Law outside its borders when dealing with Turkey, a failed democracy with some 70,000 of its citizens
behind bars for their opposition to Mr. Erdogan’s regime. In view of the forthcoming meeting of the EU General Council of December 10-11 it is time to examine more closely the concealed fallacies within the EU that account for these failures.
Fallacy Number One:
The Historical
Historically, as is fairly obvious by now, it is evident that the first and foremost position of political influence has been held by the powerful lobbies of the dominant EU business interests, mainly of Germany and more recently of Spain and Italy. These interests have succeeded once more, not only in concealing their own dominance but, even more disturbingly, the need to curtail the ruling Islamic/jihadist forces of Erdogan’s Turkey.
Perhaps, the first step in understanding these unending and deeply embedded driving forces of Turkeys continuing aggression is best expressed by the Russian historian Aleksandr Kadyrbaev who has stated “that in order to understand the history of the Turkish people it is necessary to study the Mongols’ (nomadic warrior tribes of Central Asia noted for their barbaric conquests almost since 2000 years.)
Additionally, any valid historical assessment cannot fail to include the later day ravages committed by their Ottoman descendants in their military advances reaching to the outskirts of Vienna in 1529 and the more recent bloody Armenian incidents, reminiscent of the previous Armenian genocide of more than one million people by the Ottomans Turks of 1915. It comes as no surprise, that we are confronted once again with the same historic forces presently concealing their expansionist aspirations for the Aegean Sea camouflaged by their alleged search for hydrocarbon treasures under the Aegean Sea and islands which have been inhabited by Greeks for more than 3500 years.
Fallacy Number Two:
The Economics.
There is no greater misconception than the one related to the imposition of piecemeal sanctions.
(1) The alleged deterrent consequences of such piecemeal measures have already proven inadequate. The mere announcement of a series of rigid and irrevocable sanctions to be imposed without further notice in the event of further breaches of international and maritime laws, would, in all probability, have the same restraining effects as their actual imposition. Many notable economists have sufficiently expanded on the role of self-fulfilling prophesies and expectations in market economies. A classic example known to most people is the devaluation of a currency that can take place even before a government officially announces it, if all indications are to that effect.
(2) The ineffectiveness of delayed and piecemeal sanctions has revealed that it only amounts to the reappearance of the same Turkish warships and research vessel in the Aegean Sea, to be temporarily withdrawn whenever there is a pending discussion of the EU General Council. This is, undoubtedly, a clear message for the continuation of an arms race with Turkey that would cripple even further an already weak Greek economy costing more than ten billion dollars. In reality, this translates to an additional taxation burden of about 3000 euros for every Greek family only to end up in the earnings and balance sheets of the dominant industrial concerns of the three other member states, Germany, Spain and Italy!
In the midst of the major economic crisis owing to the present Covid pandemic, such an outcome amounts to what is best described “as adding insult to injury’’ that could well end up with the appropriate legal action on behalf of Greek taxpayers and citizens of a European Union committed by its Founding Treaty to protect the security and interests of
its citizens
The Future / The Big Picture
In assessing the overall aspects of the present crisis affecting not only the solidarity and values of the European Union enshrined in article 222 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union but also the credibility of its Leaders, we can reasonably conclude that the following options are open.
(a) To continue in line with the same ineffective and damaging to all, piecemeal tactics advocated by the German leadership. Furthermore, if such tactics are further supported by a refusal to impose an embargo on armaments to Turkey it might be about time and necessary for Greece’s taxpaying citizens and their unions to appeal to the European Court of Justice (ECJ)
(b) To await stoically for a more determined and forward looking leadership to reinstate the EU values of security, freedom and democracy to be a higher priority than that presently assigned to the dominant business interests within Europe. The risks involved are high as long as the gunboat diplomacy of Turkey is allowed to unfold. Perhaps, before it is too late, the present Leaders of Europe need to be given the wakeup call resounding from the famous 1941 broadcast by Winston Churchill:
“When I looked upon the densely packed congregation of men of the same faith, of the same fundamental laws, of the same ideals, it swept upon me that here is the only hope, but also the sure hope of saving the world from a measureless degradation’’
*London School of Economics& Political Science and Ph.D. U. of the Aegean on Shipping Market Dynamics, B.Sc. MIT N.A.M.E.
By: N. Peter Kramer
