“Turkish and Greek children should be able to smile at each other in a new Mediterranean union”

Evaluating President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's visit to Athens after 6 years, political scientist Prof. Havva Kök Arslan said that "The statement of the leaders of both countries that 'there is no problem we cannot solve' may be a promising development for the future." Noting that there are two deep formations between Greece and Türkiye, Prof. Arslan stated that "The first is deep national hostility, and the other is the common profound culture, which is still very strong."

Prof. Havva Kök Arslan stated that "Only Türkiye and Greece can realize the unity that the Roman and Ottoman Empires have achieved twice in the history of the world for the third time together. Turkish and Greek children should now be able to smile at each other in a new Mediterranean unity."

The statement ‘There is no problem that we cannot solve' gives hope for the future

Stating that the President of the Republic of Türkiye officially visited Greece for the first time since 2017, Prof. Havva Kök Arslan said that "Can the relations between the two countries, which are tense from time to time due to the problems in the Aegean, Cyprus and Eastern Mediterranean which cause military challenges in the region, evolve into a win-win situation? The statement of the leaders of both countries that 'there is no problem that we cannot solve' may be a promising development for the future."

Economic ambitions are inevitable to be destroyed by the slightest political or military crisis

Prof. Havva Kök stated that “In fact, every sane Turkish and Greek politician knows very well that if there is peace between the two countries, this peace will bring economic cooperation, which will significantly increase the welfare of both countries.” Prof. Havva Kök Arslan continued her remarks as follows: "Thus, what prevents this? The economic cooperation councils aim to increase the trade volume of the two countries from five billion to ten billion dollars. However, such superficial goals are bound to be destroyed by the slightest political or military crisis.

The Turkish and Greek people are not just two neighbors...

Türkiye and Greece are not any neighboring states, and the Turkish and Greek people are not any two neighbors. Both nations are the remnants of the two great empires, the Eastern Roman and Ottoman Empires. As the Greek Professor Dimitri Kitsikis has pointed out very well in his works, for us the Peloponnesian War of 1821 or the Greek War of Independence for the Greeks was the beginning of the dissolution of the central empire in the region, which had been continuing since the Eastern Roman period and was based on the coexistence of the nations, and the takeover of the region by Western imperialism."

Atatürk and Venizelos started a great friendship

Pointing out that Greece has been a national state established by the West and always controlled by the West since the day it was founded, Prof. Havva Kök Arslan said that "Helen, the beautiful daughter of the Ottoman family, left her father's house with the provocation of the young men of distant countries and run away. This separation movement, which started in 1821, continued until 1923 with various wars that everyone knows. Atatürk and Venizelos saw the game of Western imperialism, the architect of the separation, and started a great friendship. If this peace had continued, it might have gone as far as a kind of confederation. However, the conspiracies that started with the accession of both countries to NATO managed to bring the two nations against each other again in Cyprus and shed blood again."

There are two deep formations between Greece and Türkiye

Prof. Havva Kök Arslan noted that there are two deep formations between Greece and Türkiye and made the following remarks: "The first is deep national hostility, and the other is the common profound culture, which is still very strong. Deep national hostility, which began in 1821 with rebellions and wars, has always been fed by religious fanaticism, racist fascist movements and extreme nationalism. Unfortunately, this hostility is deeper in the Greeks than in us. The reason for this is that the Greek national education system has systematically implanted hostility towards Turks in generations for 200 years. In Türkiye, although anti-Greek sentiment is not a state policy, it has been constantly cooked in the hands of nationalist groups after the national struggle and the Cyprus events. In order to establish a real peace between the two countries, 'deep national hostility’ must be minimized and, if possible, destroyed, and the ‘common profound culture' must be revived. Therefore, if both countries can show political will, it is possible to create two neighboring peoples within a generation, that is, roughly 25 years, with common national policies, not looking at each other with suspicion, but with ties of affection. What needs to be done is for both countries to mutually remove hostile passages from textbooks and history textbooks and for a joint historical commission to rewrite the wars. If a real and lasting peace is established between the two motherlands, Cyprus will cease to be a problem..."

Almost half of the Greek people are of Anatolian origin

Stating that almost half of the Greek people are of Anatolian origin today, Prof. Havva Kök Arslan said that "Some of them are Orthodox Turks who migrated from Anatolia with the population exchange. It also includes a true biological kinship. In fact, these two great peoples are the founding and ruling peoples of two great empires that ruled the Mediterranean for thousands of years. Therefore, Turks and Greeks cook the same food, cry with the same music and cheer with the same music, and maintain similar traditions at their weddings and funerals despite religious differences. While we are composing with the ancient Greek maqams, they also play the Central Asian ‘Bozuk’ saz by calling buziki."

Türkiye supported the starving Greek people in the second world war with food aid

Prof. Havva Kök Arslan also noted that the strong common profound culture between the two countries immediately manifests itself in times of disaster and continued as follows:

"Türkiye supported the Greek people who were starved during the Second World War with food aid when bread was rationed. Of course, in times of disaster, financial aid is provided even by the most distant countries; however, it is only possible to share the pain emotionally and wholeheartedly between countries with a common profound culture. In the last earthquake disaster that we experienced, we received aid from many countries of the world. If we exclude Azerbaijan, which is a part of our nation, the fact that the Greek state television ERT gave the images of the earthquake in the main news zone on the evening of the disaster with a very meaningful Turkish folk song saying ‘I love you and I would not change it for the world’ was nothing but a manifestation of the common profound culture in social psychology. Every country could have sent aid, but not every country would play Turkish folk songs on state television, and even if they did, they could not listen to it, and even if they did, they could not feel the same melody in their hearts."

Recovering of the common profound culture

Prof. Havva Kök Arslan also said the following remarks on the revival of the common profound culture of the two countries: "If the games of global imperialism are disrupted and Greece can pursue an independent foreign policy, the two countries can jointly share the energy resources in the Aegean and Mediterranean in a fraternal manner, and if this goes together with the recovering of the common profound culture, the beautiful Helen will return to her father's house and become the daughter of Troy in the not too distant future. The real ENOSIS will not be possible with the Turkization or graecization of the region, but with a formation similar to the EU within the current national borders of the two nations, perhaps including other Eastern Mediterranean people in the future. Only Türkiye and Greece can realize this union, which has been carried out twice by the Roman and Ottoman Empires in world history, for the third time together.

Turkish and Greek children should now be able to smile at each other in a new Mediterranean union.”

"Maybe a movie will come to town,

There will be a beautiful forest,

The climate will change, it will be the Mediterranean, smile..."

 

Üsküdar News Agency (ÜNA)