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Ancyrean
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Back to Ankara, Turkey
Feb 2003 time: 12:33
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You may find it interesting that in Turkey there's not much of a concept of a "Greater Turkey" per se.
On the one hand, if you think about the region around Turkey, there are sizeable Turkish minorities in many of Turkey's immediate neighbours (in Greece, Bulgaria, Iraq, and also Iran with its large Azeri minority) and thus a lot of material if you want to construct an irredentist mythos.
On the other hand, nationalism after the proclamation of the republic was so carefully shaped by Atatürk that irredentism virtually disappeared as an agenda item in Turkey (that at the high time of a fascist tide in Europe).
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VetLegion
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I think 1974. demonstrates that Turkey is not immune from that kind of thing at all.
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VetLegion
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Yes. Ancyrean could argue that Turkey wasn't really planning it and was dragged in, so the invasion wasn't a realisation of some "Greater Turkey" agenda. OK. Effect was the same though, Turkish Republic of North Cyprus is not de jure part of Turkey but de facto it is. Correct me if I am wrong on that.
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VetLegion
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By the way, protecting a minority of own nationals abroad is a pretty aggresive philosophy if you think about it. For example, Croatia has in its constitution that it is obligation of the state to care for Croatians abroad. In the case of Bosnia, that means we would (and had) militarily intervene in case their existence is endangered. Similar to Turkey and Cyprus if you will.
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VetLegion
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Not exactly territorial ambition, but not far from it. It's the next best thing.
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Spiffor
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CPA - Evil Clone brigade
Nov 2001 time: 06:33
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Indeed, that's really aggressive, and it corresponds to an ethnical vision of the nation, which is seriously destructive.
AFAIK, there is no vision of greater France. There used to be one, prior to WW1, back when we wanted Alsace Lorraine back, and when we claimed much of Africa for ourselves.
But AFAIK, now that the time of revanchism is gone for us, we have no dreams of greater France, and we don't base our identity on ethnical principles. Our government might defend French citizens abroad (like any government actually), but it doesn't defend people from some French ethnical groups that has no ties with our citizenship.
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VetLegion
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Hey, it's a big site, I can't know you all.
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lord of the mark
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FUKCOV - Former United Kingdom Colony of Virginia
Dec 2000 time: 00:33
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quote: Originally posted by Spiffor
Indeed, that's really aggressive, and it corresponds to an ethnical vision of the nation, which is seriously destructive.
AFAIK, there is no vision of greater France. There used to be one, prior to WW1, back when we wanted Alsace Lorraine back, and when we claimed much of Africa for ourselves.
But AFAIK, now that the time of revanchism is gone for us, we have no dreams of greater France, and we don't base our identity on ethnical principles. Our government might defend French citizens abroad (like any government actually), but it doesn't defend people from some French ethnical groups that has no ties with our citizenship. |
er, em, De Gaulles support for Quebec Libre?? I mean I know thats ancient history to you young folks, but its at least more recent than WW1.
And then theres France's continued patronage of the Lebanese Maronites (im not against that, its put France and the US on the same side for once, but is there not a sense of the Maronites "frenchness")
Oh, and there was the French help to Rwanda Hutus, motivated at least an part by the sense that the Tutsis would pull Rwanda out of the Francophonie (?)
And of course Frances continued political intervention in most of francophone west africa.
Of course many Americans would see the EU as the principle project for "Greater France"
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Spiffor
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CPA - Evil Clone brigade
Nov 2001 time: 06:33
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quote: Originally posted by lord of the mark
er, em, De Gaulles support for Quebec Libre?? I mean I know thats ancient history to you young folks, but its at least more recent than WW1. |
It's the closest we have to an idea of greater France. And even then, I don't think anybody envisioned a Québec belonging directly France (I wouldn't be surprised if De Gaulle wanted an independant Québec under French influence however).
quote: And then theres France's continued patronage of the Lebanese Maronites (im not against that, its put France and the US on the same side for once, but is there not a sense of the Maronites "frenchness") |
Indeed, there are some populations we feel closer ties with. Québecois, Waloons, French-speaking Swiss, Maronites, and I think we even have fairly significant ties with the Coptes of Egypt.
However, it's nothing close to a country based on ethnicity: unlike Croatia, we are not legally bounded to assist them when they're in trouble. Unlike Germany, we don't grant them citizenship if they just ask.
And actually, for a long time, this feeling of sympathy extended to the Arabs (the North African Arabs in particular), despite the fact that we have no ethnical traits in common.
quote: Oh, and there was the French help to Rwanda Hutus, motivated at least an part by the sense that the Tutsis would pull Rwanda out of the Francophonie |
It was mostly motivated by pure greed. Francophonie is an instrument of power in Africa, but it's not the aim in itself. Basically, Rwanda and Congo saw the struggle between Washington-supported groups and Paris-supported groups. In the case of Rwanda, we didn't hesitate to side with the genocidial maniacs until the **** hit the fan 
quote: And of course Frances continued political intervention in most of francophone west africa. |
This is also rapidly changing with the end of the cold war. We now are aware that francophione Africa isn't a playground that can only be ours. The Yanks are a serious competition. This is why we are now increasingly tied with English-speaking Africa: we have dramatically expanded our horizonts, just like we have considerably changed our methods (in the old times, that pesky Gbagbo would have already been dead for years, to be replaced by a convenient pawn)
quote: Of course many Americans would see the EU as the principle project for "Greater France" |
Well, that's our idea too (though it's more subtle than that: we don't want their territory, nor the hassle it is to manage it - we just want their resources).
Too bad the other Europeans disagree with the concept 
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Bereta_Eder
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I already explained the reasons of my post. You can play deaf all you want. Skopjie Skpie skopie is too difficult. I think they should be called Skopia. It's much more easy.
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