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Relations between Athens and Ankara are characterized by tensions, although many Greeks and Turks want better relations. But how is the situation really?
About a hundred kilometers separate the Greek island of Lesbos and the Turkish metropolis of Izmir. The city is located on a wide bay that stretches out into the open sea of the northeastern Aegean. Just a few kilometers from the Turkish coast, an invisible line runs through the middle of the sea: the European external border. Turkey ends there and Greece begins.
But it wasn’t always like that. Today’s borders are based on the Lausanne Treaty of 1923. Izmir, which is called Smyrni in Greek, has been a center of Greek culture for centuries. Likewise, during the Byzantine and subsequent Ottoman Empires, many Turks lived in what are now the Greek islands and mainland. The fall of the Ottoman Empire at the end of the First World War put an end to multi-ethnic coexistence. In today’s Izmir, tens of thousands of Greeks were killed by the Turkish army and the city was reduced to ruins.
The Treaty of Lausanne required a population exchange: about half a million Turks who had previously lived in Greece were to move to the newly established Turkish state. While over a million Greeks had to leave their homeland in Turkish territory and go to Greece. A trauma that is now referred to in Greece as the “Catastrophe of Asia Minor” – and a hundred years later it still causes controversy.
The current president of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in particular knows how to inflame anger on the European side. Statements are constantly coming from the Turkish capital, Ankara, that cast doubt on the Treaty of Lausanne, and with it the external borders of the EU. Erdogan’s fantasies of a Turkish empire do not stop at claims to some of the largest Greek islands, including Samos, Rhodes and Lesbos.
Izmir against Erdogan
In Izmir, the president has little support. The metropolis of 4 million inhabitants is traditionally a city of opposition. Mustafa Tunc Soyer is the mayor of Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi (People’s Republican Party, CHP). It was founded in 1923 by the founder of the state Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. The party’s program is based on a social-democratic, secularist philosophy known as Kemalism.
But the ruling president Erdoğan, with his autocratic religious style, is not too worried about this: “Anyone who is against Erdoğan is immediately insulted as ‘Gavur’ (kaurr),” explains a young woman in Izmir. “Gavur” means non-confessor. This is just one of the many examples of how Erdogan is trying to use the Islamic religion for political purposes. The young woman does not want her name published. Anyone who speaks ill of the head of state in Turkey can end up in prison. For years, the judiciary has been dealing with countless procedures for “insulting the president”.
Fear and economic crisis
The young Turkish woman thinks that Erdogan’s harsh words against neighboring Greece are out of place: “We have completely different problems. For example, everything is very expensive here, we can’t afford the rent anymore,” she told DW. “Even the prices for fruits and vegetables have increased. If the government starts a war with Greece now, things could get worse.”
In fact, inflation in Turkey at the end of June 2022 is 73.5 percent. And parliamentary elections will be held in 2023. Given the economic situation, political observers see Ankara’s new conflict with Athens as nothing less than a tactic by Erdogan to shift attention from domestic political problems.
Tourism as a bridge
Ship owner Osman Hakan Ersen, whom we meet in the port of Izmir, looks proud but also a little nervous. It’s half past nine in the morning. In an hour, Ihsan Alyanak will sail, a fast ferry connecting Turkey’s third largest city with Greece’s third largest island, Lesbos – for the first time since the end of the Ottoman Empire. The project has also been supported by the mayor of Izmir Soyer, as Ersen points out.
Good neighborly relations instead of political quarrels, which do not fill the empty coffers of Turkish businessmen, this is what Reeder Ersen would like: “We Turks love the Greek islands. The beaches there are not as crowded as here in Turkey. Food and music are the same. Both sides would benefit economically.” Although there is already a ferry connection from Lesbos’ main town, Mytilene, to the Turkish coastal town of Ayvalik, a direct boat to Izmir has been lacking until now.
“Greeks are welcome”
Despite the current economic situation, Hakan Ersen hopes that there will be enough passengers on the ferry. A good agreement is made difficult by the political situation between the two countries: “The Greeks are hesitant at the moment,” the ship owner told DW, “but they shouldn’t be, because we share the sea and are neighbors. They are very welcome.” His return ferry ticket costs 80 euros – a lot of money considering the economic situation in Turkey.
In addition, Turkish citizens need a Schengen visa to travel to Greece. This also costs 80 euros, and requires a lot of patience: “For a visa, we Turks must declare all our assets. We have to say where we work, show the bank statements of the last three months.” Before the Corona pandemic, there were daily visas for 30 euros, which you could buy directly at the border. For Greeks, on the other hand, entry into Turkey is possible with a simple ID card.
Economics before politics
Hakan Ersen is sure: Brussels must urgently ease the visa rules for Turkish tourists. Even in Lesvos there would be an interest in facilitating the entry of citizens of the neighboring country. People used to be proud that the island was less touristy than Rhodes or Kos. But now, after years of turmoil from the financial crisis to the ongoing refugee drama and domestic problems caused by COVID-19, people are trying to recover economically.
“The ferry from Izmir is a good thing. Everyone here complains that there are no tourists”, explains 22-year-old waiter Nikos. Many from Lesvos take the ferry to Ayvalik and go shopping. The current tensions between the governments in Ankara and Athens are mainly in the media: “Turks come to Lesbos every day. This conflict talk has nothing to do with our lives. We have a good relationship.”
Kostas Moutzouris, the governor of the North Aegean Islands, also sees the benefits of better transport links with Turkey. Here in Lesbos, where the neighboring country is close by, the political tone is also softer than in Athens: “People must engage in dialogue. Problems can only be solved through dialogue,” he told DW.
Moutzouris considers the threats from Turkey as empty phrases, with which the Turkish president wants to set the course for the upcoming parliamentary elections next year: “We hope that the economic situation in Turkey will improve – because this is also in the interest of the people here in Lesvos. Izmir is less than three hours from here.” At the same time, Moutzouris makes it clear: “We Greeks have our national interests. And as far as these are concerned, we will not make any concessions.”/DW
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