The Turks-you'd think they originated in Turkey, wouldn't you? After all, 'Turkiye' means 'Land of the Turks.' But no, the original Turks came from far away, east of the Altai Mountains in Mongolia. Getting to what is now the homeland, and then ensuring it was called Turkey, was quite a journey.
Ataturk ('Father of the Turks') ruled for fifteen years during which he transformed his country, introducing a series of radical reforms to modernize Turkey after concluding that modernization meant Westernization.
Ataturk understood that language is culture. He bridged a divide, touring the country and showing up in village squares and schools armed with a portable blackboard on which he chalked the new alphabet.
Fast forward to 1946. The Turks looked around their neighbourhood and saw very little they liked. Turkey still wasn't back as a major trade route and its neighbours were not exactly wealthy. Meanwhile, the Russians, whom they'd been fighting for centuries, now had troops in the Balkans as part of the Soviet expansion, were giving aid to Kurdish rebels as both worked to weaken Turkey and were gaining influence in Syria and Iraq. 'Splendid isolation' wasn't really an option-within six years Turkey was a member of NATO. It was a marriage of convenience.
Modern Turkey, seems to see the post-Cold War and 9/11 world as a jungle full of competitors in which it is one of the lions. It seeks to be self-sufficient in weapons and has enjoyed success in building a defence industry which it hopes will become a world-leading exporter.
At one point, Turkey was still Western-orientated and hanging on to dreams of joining the European Union, but it was becoming increasingly unlikely that Ankara would ever be invited to join the club. Economically, it does not meet enough criteria for entry and its record on human rights falls short.
In June 2020, Turkey announced it intended to begin drilling for reserves of natural gas, off the Greek islands. Greece was 'ready to respond.'
Turkey's position is based on an astonishing agreement it came to with Libya in late 2019. It 'created' an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). At a stoke it theoretically blocked a proposed pipeline running from Israeli and Cypriot waters to Crete, on to the Greek mainland and then into Europe's gas network. The agreement was made with the government of Libya.
Turkey doesn't recognise the UN's EEZ delineations and falls back on claims of sovereignty based on its continental shelf, which extends out into the Mediterranean. Russia, meanwhile, would prefer both projects to fail and for everyone to remain reliant on its supplies.
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