GreekForumer wrote:GreekForumer wrote:bigOz wrote:Furthermore, why did Turkey have to suffer the economic and military embargo by the USA for a very long time during and after the invasion?
Economic embargo ? Are you sure ? What kinds of economic pressures did Turkey suffer ?
bigOz wrote:GreekForumer is obviously unable to see the effect of the lack of any military aid, offered at the time to both Turkey and Greece, on their respective economies!
Forgive me, BigOz. English language comprehension is not one of my strong points. So bear with me.
When you wrote "economic AND military embargo", I thought this also meant "economic embargo AND military embargo".
By "military embargo" I assumed you meant no weapons, no spare parts, no intelligence, no advice, and of course, no military aid or a combination of these. The aim of military embargoes is to make the embargoed one militarily weaker.
To me, "Economic embargo" means blocking of trade in or out, seizure or freezing overseas assets and bank accounts, prohibition of transactions, denial of loans, etc. The aim of economic embargoes is to make the standard of living go down. (see Iraq, Iran, N Korea)
I was "unable to see the effect of the lack of any military aid" simply because I was not looking. I was interested in your claim of an "economic embargo" because I was unaware of such a thing against Turkey back then. That is why my post was formulated the way it was.
Economic Embargo ? "Are we talking the same language ?"
Are you sure ? "I have never heard of such a thing, perhaps you are mistaken. Perhaps you are talking out of your arse. Perhaps you are repeating an urban legend. An economist told you maybe? A link would be nice."
What kinds of economic pressures did Turkey suffer ? "And if you are correct in your claim, what form did these sanctions take."
I see! We now have another Socrates to deal with - who also would like to involve arse's and cocks in his discussions!
Listen mate! You are still not capable of seeing the consequences on the economy of a country like Turkey (and at the time, Greece too for that matter) of a so called "arms embargo".
Screw the "I assume" and "you assume" business, and lets come down to earth! America held both Greece and Turkey to ransom by supplementing their military forces with huge amounts of military aid and credits. These aids helped maintain a well armed large military NATO force in an economically poor country, that did not have the funds of their own to do so.
Once you take that away, that country's economy sinks because it has no choice but to divert funds from other areas to address the problem. It is an indirect dagger aimed at a country's economy. Perhaps I should have called it "military sanctions analogous to economic ones" instead of "economic and military embargo", so lets not play word games! You understand (and so did everyone else reading) exactly what I meant.
The type of direct economic embargoes could not have been applied to Turkey by USA at the time. As far as they were concerned Turkey's big crime was using NATO forces and equipment without the permission of NATO command. They did not give a shit what was invaded! Add to that, with a growing socialist youth movement at the time gaining popularity in Turkey, NATO could not behave against them like an enemy and place direct Economic embargoes(ie. Iraq or Iran - silly examples which have nothing to do with what was happening at the time).
What? the only country with a huge border with USSR in NATO, vital as the furthest outpost against communists with the biggest NATO army in Europe - and they were going to alienate them with economic embargoes? You must be off your head mate! I lived through those times and remember very well all the political belly dancing that went on.
As a final point, I bring this quote for your attention:
re:
http://www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-13924.html
"In 1980 United States military assistance to Turkey amounted to US$250 million, and economic aid to about US$200 million. The United States also joined other countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in pledging emergency credits in a bid to halt Turkey's slide into bankruptcy during the financial crisis of the late 1970s."
That financial crisis was the aftermath of the stopping of military aid and credits to Turkey for 4 years starting from 1974! This at a time when Turkish economy was struggling. As you can clearly see, even without the long term military credits, just the military aid was more than the economic aid itself! What does that tell you?
