Chapter 538 Middle East (3)

Soviet Union, Greece, Iran, Iraq, Hungary, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania...

Russia and Turkey have fought twelve Russo-Turkish wars since the 16th century. Turkey was defeated in most of them. As a result, Turkey's territory was swallowed up piece by piece by Russia. Today, Turkey, the superpower that dominated Europe, Asia and Africa in the early modern times and even almost destroyed the Western world, has irreversibly fallen into an ordinary second-rate regional country.

In 1397, the Second Kingdom of Bulgaria was annexed by the Ottoman Empire and ruled for 500 years. At that time, the Ottoman Turkey required Bulgarian Christians to convert to Islam. If they did not change, they would either pay their heads or pay a head tax. The less obedient Bulgarians became second-class citizens in their own land. In order to strengthen their rule, the Ottomans continued to move in Turks. From 1877 to 1878, the Ottomans fought the Russo-Turkish War with Russia, and the Ottomans were defeated. The Bulgarians, who had long been oppressed by the Turks, also launched a full-scale uprising during the Russo-Turkish War. They declared independence from the Ottoman Empire on March 3, 1878.

Then, with the support of Russia, the Bulgarians massacred more than 200,000 Turks and recovered most of the land occupied by the Turks. If there was no external interference, Bulgaria would have been able to clean up the Turks in the country at that time.

As close neighbors, Greece and Turkey have a deep historical origin and close exchanges. Ancient Greece once created a brilliant and splendid civilization. The Romans began to invade Greece in 30 BC, and ancient Rome conquered Greece in 168 BC, and Greece was ruled by the Roman Empire. In 395 AD, the ancient Roman emperor divided the empire into two, and Greece has since been under the jurisdiction of the Eastern Roman Empire, that is, the Byzantine Empire. Greece and Byzantium also get along very well.

However, due to the crazy expansion of the Ottoman Empire, in 1460, the entire Greek region was conquered by the Turks by force, and cruel and dark rule was implemented. The Greeks, who could not bear the oppression, repeatedly resisted, but were all madly suppressed by the Turks. In this state, the Greeks lived for nearly four hundred years. It was not until the early 19th century that, with the help of the powers such as Britain, France and Russia, the Greeks got rid of the rule of the declining Ottoman Empire.

And the independent Greeks continued to retaliate against the Turks. In the First Balkan War, Greece joined Bulgaria, Serbia and other countries to attack Turkey. After World War I, it took advantage of the defeat and division of the Ottoman Empire to occupy a lot of Turkish land. At this time, the revolution led by Kemal, the father of Turkey, broke out and drove the Greeks out of Turkey. Otherwise, perhaps Turkey would have become Greek. In this way, the grievances between the two countries were formed, and there was no sign of easing. It has become a tradition until later generations, and mutual harm has become the norm.

And Iran belongs to the Sunni and Shia sects, which determines that the relationship between the two countries is not very good. Although the Ottoman Empire did not conquer Iran, it also fought and occupied land.

In this way, Turkey is now surrounded by a group of enemies. It's just that their respective strengths are not that good, forming a delicate balance, and they didn't tear their faces off and fight.

If Germany supports these countries with some weapons and equipment and incites them a little, the Third Balkan War will definitely break out, and Turkey will be eaten alive.

Sarajolu's face is extremely ugly, and von Paben said with a smug look. "This is how the world is. Whoever has more chess pieces and whoever has a stronger gun is right. Falling behind does not necessarily get beaten, it's just because I don't want to beat you! In this world of the survival of the fittest, the weak have no right to speak! Well, I still have things to do, please go back, Minister." While speaking, he once again deeply realized the wise saying that "the confidence of diplomats comes from the strength of the motherland." Ten years ago, at least five years ago, German diplomats could not speak so hard. But now that Germany has become a world power, these diplomats have naturally become more confident and have more confidence to speak. You don't accept it? If you have the courage, fight with real swords and guns, if you don't have the courage, just hold it back!

Watching Sarajolu leave in a rage, von Papen shook his head. "What a bunch of idiots! If you voluntarily hand over the Turkish Straits, maybe His Highness will be kind enough to let you join the European Union."

The Turkish Straits, known as the "throat of the world", is the only strait from the Mediterranean to the Black Sea, so it is also called the Black Sea Strait. It includes the Bosphorus Strait, the Sea of ​​Marmara and the Dardanelles Strait, with a total length of 345 km. The entire strait runs northeast-southwest and is the dividing line between Asia and Europe. The northeast end is the Bosphorus Strait, the southwest end is the Dardanelles Strait, and between the two straits is the Sea of ​​Marmara, Turkey's inland sea. The sovereignty of both sides belongs to Turkey. During the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union established the Black Sea Strait as one of the most important maritime throats in the world. After the Cold War, NATO still regards the Black Sea Strait as one of the strategic points of the Eurasian continent.

In the original time and space, Turkey did not think about joining the EU. On the contrary, it dreamed of joining the EU. Joining the EU even became a basic national policy. As early as 1963, before the EU was established, Turkey expressed its willingness to join the predecessor of the EU, the European Community. Since 1987, Turkey has formally applied to join the EU, but the application failed due to opposition from most EU members.

There are many reasons for this. Turkey is a developing country with a relatively backward economy, and many of its indicators do not meet the EU's minimum standards. If Turkey joins the EU, it will inevitably drag down the EU and become a burden to the EU. The UK insists on withdrawing from the EU because it feels that it has too many poor relatives in the EU and is being dragged down.

In fact, the EU not only has to pay money to subsidize Turkey, but also has to face a large number of Turkish immigrants and workers. The Germans have suffered greatly from the influx of Turks, and the Germans can't bear it, let alone other countries. Therefore, EU member states are unwilling to allow Turkey to join. If Turkey joins, not to mention those rich countries, even those poor countries will not agree. It's so hard to get close to a big family, who wants another one to eat free rice. So it's normal for the EU to repeatedly reject Turkey.

Secondly, there are various political, religious, cultural and other factors that are major obstacles to Turkey's joining the EU.

Therefore, even if Turkey really handed over the Turkish Straits, Yannick would not agree. When the day comes to use the Turkish Straits, incite neighboring countries to grab them.