BirKibrisli wrote:Kikapu wrote:Nikitas wrote:Kikapu, strategy as the military inderstand it is a mix of bird brained ideas they learned in military academies and contain such idiocies as "the soft underbelly of Turkey". A phrase which likens a nation to a cow, with a soft belly belo and hard horns above etc. These guys are obviously affected by the way maps are presented in classrooms, with the north always up, and the south always down. They start to think that rockets can only fly S. to N- NE and not the other way round.
You would think that they could see the obvious, that by keeping their soldiers in the north they legitimise the presence of Greek military in the south, which weakens their strateigc advantage. It would be much greater if NO ONE had troops on the island. But maybe that was the intention all along, hence Erdoghan's legitimisation of Greek strategic interest during his latest outburst.
I agree with you, Nikitas.
Turkey has a huge "underbelly" if that's what they are worried about, but how does having a military base in the north 60 miles offshore from the mainland is any help to Turkey, and even if it were, it only covers just the north-east quadrant area between Turkey, Cyprus and Syria. What about the rest of her "underbelly".? The whole thing is nothing but for the Turks to feel that they have in fact won some land back that they once held before. The rest of any "strategic interests" claims without explanation as to what they are, is because Turkey does not know why she is in the north, but sounds good all the same, just to make believe, that they will only give it up for a equal value exchange, an EU membership. Lets face it, Turkey does not exactly have a "poker face" in what she is holding in her hands and on her mind. Right now Turkey likes to flex some military muscles on Cyprus, just because they can and it gives them a "hard on", but in reality, they are quite impotent as to what they can do with it, specially since 2004 when Cyprus became a EU member. The only thing that is keeping Turkey's "hard on" in place, is a lot of Viagra.!
Kikapu,
I think you can guess what I will say,but I will say it anyway for the benefit of the other interested parties...Turkey was and probably still is protecting the American strategic interests in Cyprus. Now the presence of the Turkish troops in Cyprus simply serves Erdogan and his party's strategic interests...As long as Turkey is in Cyprus there will never be a danger of the EU admitting her into the Union...And as long as Turkey is in Cyprus Erdogan has a carrot to dangle in front of the Military...That sums it up as far as i am concerned...i know you do not believe me,and you keep believing that Erdogan really wants Turkey in the EU,but that is only wishful thinking on the part of our GC cousins...They refuse to even consider the possibility that Erdogan and his party are using Cyprus as a pawn in their grander designs for the Turkish republic...
Hi Bir,
American strategic interests in Cyprus, if there are any, can be also protected by the RoC now, so why have it "outsourced" to Turkey.?? But just to get back to what Erdogan said in plain English, that Turkey has strategic interests in Cyprus, and in my point of view, it cannot be a military strategic interests since Cyprus is so close to the mainland, so it has to do with natural resources, oil and gas in the Med, as well as capturing a place they once ruled under the Ottomans. Perhaps they believe, that by capturing Cyprus in part or in whole, it will be their stepping stone in capturing the rest what the Ottomans lost. I personally think is a lunacy gone mad if that is their thinking, but then again, as it was posted in an article last week, it seems like Turks in general can't tell the difference between Reality and Fiction. If it's Gas and Oil that Turkey wants to safeguard for herself, I'm afraid that is just too little too late once the RoC became an EU member. The best that Turkey can salvage from all her efforts in Cyprus, is to exchange all that for a EU membership. It may not happen under Erdogan's watch, but the country needs to define what is their purpose being in Cyprus, because I just can't see one.
Also, by Erdogan publicly stating that Turkey has strategic interests in Cyprus, now makes them officially an occupying power (not that there ever was a doubt by anyone) and would have been the case even had the Annan Plan was voted for, or dare I say, even had there not been any Enosis Dream by the GCs or Greece, Turkey would have invaded Cyprus at some point as long as there were TCs on the island as a pretext to come to the island. Turkey might have come even if there were no TCs on the island as stated by Davutoglu, therefore, it is more than apparent now, that there cannot be peace in Cyprus until Turkey agrees to withdraw from the island, or that she is forced off from the island. Turkey is the key figure to solve the Cyprus problem and if Turks want to be in the EU now or in the future, Cyprus problem needs to be solved by Turkey.
Middle east has finally woken up to the idea of Democracy and it is set to change the whole landscape. Times are changing and so must Turkey's strategic interests in Cyprus for bigger and better thing by being a EU member. It is true that many countries in the EU do not want Turkey in the EU club, but at the present arrogant Turkish mindset, who can really blame them. Lets see Turkey take a more European ideology position than the present one and then lets see how she will be received by the Europeans. Regardless of whether Turkey makes it into the EU or not is one thing, but for certainty, she cannot claim any part of Cyprus for herself any longer since 2004, since it is now ALL a EU territory. All she can do at best is be a nuisance in Cyprus at a great financial cost for herself, the RoC and to the TCs, but eventually, she will be dealt with by the EU, one way or another, assuming the Turks themselves do not revolt against their own government for keeping them out of the EU. Interesting times are ahead, for sure.!
