Greece and Bulgaria Plan Anti-Turkey Strategies

[half greek]

Greece and Bulgaria, both Orthodox Christian nations with significant Turkish Muslim minorities, are developing common strategies toward Turkey that include military cooperation.

Western diplomats in Athens said that the growing concern in Athens and Sofia over unrest among Muslim minorities may render Greece and Bulgaria allied ''front-line states'' in Europe against the spread of Muslim fundamentalism.

The problem was aggravated last week after clashes in northeastern Greece between Christian Greeks and Ethnic Turkish Muslims, which left one Greek dead and several wounded on both sides.
They were the first such clashes in a NATO country after the recent ethnic strife in Eastern Europe.

The Muslims were protesting the sentencing of two ethnic Turkish politicians, who were found guilty of inciting ethnic unrest through demands for autonomy.

The incidents have led to an exchange of accusations between Greece and Turkey and respective protests in international forums.

The situation prevailing in Greece is similar to the Bulgarian-Turkish crisis last year.

But Greece and Bulgaria so far have differed in their handling of the Muslim minority problem.

Bulgaria has tried to force their departure.

But Greece, to counter the numerical superiority of the Muslims in parts of Western Thrace, an area which borders Turkey and Bulgaria, is resettling large numbers of Greeks there from the Pontos region of the Soviet Union. The Government has requested aid for the project from the European Community's refugee fund.

Greek-Bulgarian cooperation was accelerated by the Bulgarian Foreign Minister's visit to Athens last month. The minister, Bojko Dimitrov, came directly from a meeting in Kuwait with the Turkish Foreign Minister, Mesut Yilmaz, who Western diplomatic officials said, rejected Bulgaria's request for a nonaggression pact.

Greek Government officials confirmed the information and said that Greece's similar requests for a nonaggression pact with Turkey had been repeatedly rejected by Ankara over the last few years.

The Western diplomatic officials said the rejections had increased Greece and Bulgaria's suspicions of Turkish intentions, and have accelerated their plans for closer military cooperation.

Foreign Minister Antonis Samaras of Greece, the architect of the plan to counter Muslim influence in Thrace, said after his meeting with Mr. Dimitrov that Greek-Bulgarian relations were excellent and that there was ''a coincidence of views on all issues.''

He said Greece supported Bulgaria's democratic evolution from Communism and, as a member of the European Community, would help Bulgaria develop its ties with the community.

Mr. Dimitrov said that ''profound democratic changes'' were taking place in Bulgaria and that the country's foreign policy was being reassessed.

He said Greek-Bulgarian relations would ''continue to be a stabilizing factor in the Balkan Peninsula and changes taking place in Bulgaria and Europe increase the importance of friendship and cooperation with Greece.'' With the demise of Communism in Eastern Europe, Greece no longer feels threatened by totalitarianism but by nationalist tensions in the Balkans, a region dubbed ''the powder keg of Europe.''

Greece's fear of Turkey also stems from Ankara's 1974 invasion and continuing partial occupation of the predominantly Greek island republic of Cyprus.

Last month in Bulgaria, during mass anti-Turkish rallies protesting concessions granted to the Muslim minority there, demonstrators chanted ''Bulgaria is not Cyprus.''

The demonstrations and slogans were given wide publicity in the Greek state-controlled press.

Greek demonstrators against the Muslim minority last week chanted, ''We will not be turned into Turks!''


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[Napalm]

Very interesting points in the artcle.

...[Turkish Foreign Minister] rejected Bulgaria's request for a nonaggression pact

Yes this is the so called "moderate" EU worthy muslim country, typical hypocrisy.

[Anngora]

Why did you post a very old article?

[ursus]

More Pontos settlers are needed in that region and a policy of " friendly persuasion" to cajole the remaining turks to evacuate and move east pursued simultaneously. There can never be friendship between turk and greek, at best it will be a grudging tolerance under severe duress due to the geopolitical configuration. We must not follow in the footsteps of the hallucinating inmates of the EU gulag, who mellifluously and gregariously appear to be scanning the muslim invasion of their cities, towns and bedchambers as if something to gloat over a cup of coffee in a bistro; a symptom of the cancerous ulceration , heralding death, of multiculturalism in the social and political organs of the EU.

The fall of Constantinople is a bleeding wound. On account of this small piece of real estate jutting out into Europe, the dastardly turk is laying claim to his being a European, and seeks penetration and expansion into the continent. The effeminate martinets of the EU bureaucracy fall over each other fawning and drooling ( from the dwarfish chewing gum face, sarkozzy ; to the beer mug holder at an Oktober fest , Merkel) over to the sandal wearing, nargile bashing owner of harems and his retinue of yusufakis, in their billowing pantaloons.

The turks must be driven out of Hellas or at least make their lives uncomfortable enough for them to leave. When the shooting starts, we don't want to harbor any fifth columns, nor Trojan asses in our territory. At arms length of each other we can do each other less harm.

[Apollyon]

Originally Posted by Anngora
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Why did you post a very old article?

How old it is?

[Ellinas]

Originally Posted by half greek
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The problem was aggravated last week after clashes in northeastern Greece between Christian Greeks and Ethnic Turkish Muslims, which left one Greek dead and several wounded on both sides.
They were the first such clashes in a NATO country after the recent ethnic strife in Eastern Europe.

When did this happen?

[Prokomenos]

This article is from the 90's if Im not mistaken..

[Bora]

This article is like 10 or more years old and they still try to make this plan happen and it didnt work yet?
Greek should find a betetr ally to make Anti-Blahblah Strategies.

[Apollyon]

Originally Posted by half greek
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Greece and Bulgaria, both Orthodox Christian nations with significant Turkish Muslim minorities, are developing common strategies toward Turkey that include military cooperation.


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First,theres no turkish minority
its hellenic muslim minority.
Second, would you please add a date of when such things happened?

[antonio]

Originally Posted by Prokomenos
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This article is from the 90's if Im not mistaken..

Since it mentions Antonis Samaras as Foreign Minister, it had to be from between 1989 and 1992.