Angelos Syrigos<\/a><\/b>, professor and MP for Athens with the New Democracy, talks to Manifesto about Greek-Turkish relations, Greece, Thrace<\/b> and his goal in politics.<\/p>\n
“Greece is called upon to defend itself by setting high strategic goals beyond our passive survival. We are in imminent danger of becoming a geopolitical satellite of Turkey<\/b>“, Angelos Syrigos underlines in his latest book entitled “Greece and Turkey: 50 questions and answers”<\/b> (Pataki Publications). <\/p>\n
The 383-page read, released last March, reflects the author’s long involvement with the most critical and yet challenging area of Greek foreign policy. <\/b>Hard truths are condensed in its pages, including the deconstruction of many entrenched myths about bilateral relations.<\/p>\n
Professor of International Law and Foreign Policy at Panteion University, a member of parliament in the A\u02c8 of Athens with New Democracy since 2019<\/b>and with a significant body of writing on Greek-Turkish relations, Mr.Syrigos has formed clear views – harsh for some – on the issues he addresses. His approach avoids embellishments as, as his book suggests, there is no longer any room for comfort readings or inaction.<\/p>\n
And what does he propose? “To become a vital, geopolitical player in the region. By strengthening our military capacity, our diplomatic capacity, our economy<\/b>,” he tells the Manifesto. “Sitting at the table with the great powers and discussing the future of the region. Because if we don’t sit around the table, we run the risk of what the Canadian prime minister said in Davos: being the menu in the middle of the table.”<\/p>\n
The historical reality in the country’s near geostrategic environment is harsh. It took four wars before Israel and Egypt normalized relations in the Middle East, a region once again in turmoil. <\/b>Is this also true of Greek-Turkish relations? Would a desperate war redefine bilateral relations?<\/p>\nReversal<\/b><\/h3>\n
“Yes, that’s usually the case. But it is good to avoid that, not to go into such a process to find out. It’s good to use the concept of deterrence. And because there is this misunderstanding in many of our compatriots: Why do we need Rafale, F-35, Kimon-type frigates in the Aegean? Are we going to use them? The answer is that you have them as a deterrent<\/b>,” he explains.<\/p>\n
What does that mean? “That you are passing the message to the other guy that if he attacks you, the cost that he will incur will be much greater than the gain. So, you avoid him attacking you. So, to the question you ask, such a possibility can happen if deterrence doesn’t work.”<\/p>\n
Doubtless the burden – verbal and otherwise – of war is heavy. But is this not also consistent with certain myths in Athens that Turkish rhetoric against Greece<\/b> is for domestic reasons? And all this, while Ankara is attempting to “normalize” its illegal claims through actions (the Turkish-Cypriot pact, letters to the UN, opposition to the Greece-Cyprus electrical interconnection, etc.). <\/p>\n
“There are many such points related both to our own wishful thinking and to talking to well-meaning Turkish politicians or diplomats who tell you that “we have put this up for negotiating purposes”. In practice, this has never been established. When the time comes for talks, the Turks do not take anything off the table. They may not bring it up at that time, but it remains on the table<\/b>,” Syrigos says.<\/p>\n
The other myth is that any democratization or Europeanization of Turkey will mean more functional relations with Greece. “This is another of the theories that come out from time to time,” he comments, alluding to Milton Friedman’s axiom that countries that have McDonald’s don’t fight each other.<\/b><\/p>\n
And he continues: “Russia and Ukraine had McDonald’s. There was a war.” According to the professor, the notion that democracies don’t fight expansionist wars is untenable.<\/b> “These things don’t work automatically. When you have a democracy, it doesn’t automatically mean that you perceive your national interests in a non-aggressive way. Britain is the example of the past. Israel is the current one, this is a country that is a democracy at home. America is the same. That doesn’t mean that they don’t have an aggressive way of asserting their interests,” he adds.<\/p>\n
Although there are McDonald’s on both sides of the Aegean, Greece is investing in upgrading its armaments systems as well as in allied-strategic relations with France and Israel. <\/b>This gives it an added value to its deterrent capability. But if the “darkest hour” comes, the country will not be alone;<\/p>\n
“That’s how you start. That the wolf has a fat neck and does the work alone. You start with the logic that it’s going to be you over there. If it’s you over there, others may come along. If you’re not there, others will definitely not come,” he stresses. And he recalls that in the “Oru\u00e7 Reis”<\/b> crisis in the summer of 2020, the Greek Navy – before it was further reinforced – was in place. “The message to the other side is that we are there. In every crisis, the Greek Armed Forces are there.”<\/p>\nThrace<\/b><\/h3>\n
While Greek-Turkish relations are the main focus of his public presence, Thrace and the Muslim minority is the area where this engagement has acquired experiential depth. In 1995, Mr. Syrigos was transferred as a soldier to the region from where he was discharged a year later with a commendation from the D\u02c8 Army Corps for his services to the minority and an honorable mention from the GES<\/b> for his contribution to the creation of a Pomak-Greek dictionary. <\/p>\n
“The whole idea of minorities has always piqued my interest. Minorities are fragments of the history of the past that remain in the present, where they reflect another situation that existed in the past. <\/b>And that’s what I liked, to look for what’s going on under the surface of things. And I always saw it in relation to Greek minorities living abroad as well. I always had that interest. So, when it came time for me to serve, I sought to go to Thrace and serve,” he recalls.<\/p>\n
Over time, the Greek state has made mistakes on the minority issue: either in its behavior toward its Muslim citizens or in its protection of the Greek minority in Turkey.<\/p>\n
“A constant concern of the Greek foreign ministry <\/b>for many decades has been how to stop Turkey from equalizing the minority. Unfortunately, that effort failed. Part of our policy towards the Muslims of Thrace was due to the perception of reciprocity between the two minorities, which is not correct. There is no reciprocity in the Lausanne Treaty,” Syriagos says.<\/p>\n
“Has everything that could have been done been done?” he asks. “Probably not,” he replies. However, he goes on to say that each time we must also focus on the historical context at hand. “In the period when the Cold War was escalating, how much could Greece have intervened more decisively on behalf of the Greeks of Constantinople, Imbros and Tenedos? I’m not sure, I don’t want to directly accuse us of making conscious mistakes<\/b>,” he adds.<\/p>\n
According to him, one of the biggest mistakes was the “homogenization” of the Muslim minority that took place mainly under the junta. “We stopped seeing the ethnic distinctions between Turkish-speaking, Pomaks and Gypsies,” he notes, describing as a “great breakthrough” in Thrace the egalitarianism-isopolitics established in 1991 by then Prime Minister Konstantinos Mitsotakis.<\/p>\n
Referring to the efforts of Ankara, the Turkish consulate in Komotini<\/b> and other enablers to exert influence and instrumentalize the Muslim minority, Angelos Syrigos explains that after 2016 and the failed coup in Turkey, the regime’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan against anyone who was considered, even as a suspect, to be connected to Fethullah Gulen’s movement “made many Muslims in Thrace fearful and turn their backs on Turkey.”<\/p>\n
“The majority of our fellow Muslims,” he continues, “don’t want to get too involved in politics. They want to do their work, they understand the problems of everyday life. The minority also experienced the crisis of the last decade. The fact that the villages are empty – of both Muslims and Christians – is due to an urbanization that affects both religious groups equally. The fact that the economic crisis has largely emptied Thrace is also a fact that has affected them all<\/b>.”<\/p>\nReflections<\/b>
<\/h3>\n
After decades of academic, writing and political career since 2019, the discussion inevitably shifts to his personal footprint. From January 2021 to May 2024, Syrigos served as Deputy Minister of Education, and from 2012-2015 he was Secretary General for Population and Social Cohesion at the Ministry of Interior<\/b>. We ask him if he feels any bitterness about the time he was given or the portfolio he took on. “It may sound strange, but I have no bitterness. I have questions<\/b>,” he answers curtly.<\/p>\n
What he is concerned about, he says, is that he will have contributed to the betterment of the country. “I have some views on a number of issues and I believe that these are leading to the progress of our country,” he notes, describing the question as how these views will be translated into implemented policy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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