Germany’s strategic blunders in its relationship with #Russia are currently hurting all of Europe. We take a look at the parallel relationship between #Germany and #Turkey and the real risks this poses for the West. A thread by #theHELC #NoSubsForTurkey 1/17 
The German / Turkish relationship dates from before #WWI, when the #YoungTurks turned to Germany as the most plausible international ally for their decomposing Empire. A secret treaty between the two powers was concluded on August 2, 1914 2/17
The German #Kaiser #WilhelmII visited the #OttomanEmpire three times in total, pledging to the Sultan and the '300 million Mohammedans scattered over the globe and revering in him their caliph, that the German Emperor will be and remain at all times their friend' 3/17
Turkey entered WWI by launching a stealthy and unsuccessful raid on the Russian #BlackSea ports in October 1914, as a result of which the #TripleAlliance of Britain, France, and Russia declared War on the Ottomans 4/17
The raid was actually performed by two German warships, the #Goeben and #Breslau, that had hastily been transferred to the Ottomans with their German crews insolently donning Ottoman uniforms and fezzes 5/17
General #Ludendorff stated in his memoirs that the entry of the #Turks into the war allowed the outnumbered #CentralPowers to fight on for two years longer, extending the war to the #MiddleEast and causing enormous bloodshed and suffering 6/17
The two aggressors were decidedly defeated in the ensuing war and both the Kaiser and the Young Turks ended up losing their Empires for good. However, they still managed to add some black pages in the history books before their final defeat 7/17
Otto Liman von Sanders, appointed head of the German military mission to the Ottomans in 1913, embroiled himself in the #Armenian and #GreekGenocide, even going as far as giving direct orders for mass deportations that cost the lives of hundreds of thousands 8/17
Von Sanders was arrested by the British as a war criminal at the end of the war. His disciple Mustapha #Kemal continued the policy of genocide as head of the new Turkish state, unrooting Christian populations that had lived in #AsiaMinor for thousands of years 9/17
Mustapha Kemal became in turn an inspiration for the emerging German #Nazi leaders in the interwar period. #AdolfHitler found the Armenian “solution” of Kemal an instructive precedent for his own plans against the Jews 10/17
#Turkey and #Nazi Germany signed a pact of #friendship on 18 July 1941. Turkey continued to claim neutrality while enabling the Nazis – just like it does for #Putin today - and only declared war on Germany on 23 February 1945, two months before the end of the war 11/17
Post-war German governments rightly distanced themselves from the Prussian militarism and Nazi crimes of the past. One constant has remained though: their proximity to Turkey and its leaders 12/17
#Erdogan’s regime is currently committing ethnic cleansing of the #Kurds in Northern #Syria, has imprisoned record numbers of journalists and members of the opposition, and regularly threatens Germany’s fellow EU members with invasion 13/17
Germany’s former governments have repeatedly provided diplomatic cover for these actions, often operating at odds with the rest of the international community. Germany subsidises the internment of #refugees in #Turkey and supplies critical military equipment to the regime 14/17
#ThyssenKrupp (a major German conglomerate) is currently working on six advanced #submarines for Turkey that threaten to disturb the fragile balance in the Eastern Mediterranean, where states such as Greece, Cyprus and Israel are trying to contain Erdogan #NoSubsForTurkey 15/17
The new German government is showing signs of fresh thinking in terms of geopolitical priorities. Turkey’s double dealings with Russia, political authoritarianism, and outright military threats to Germany’s allies, should at the very least put Turkey on the change agenda 16/17
Major Western democracies such as the #US and #France have realised the unreliability of their Turkish partners, blocked the sale of critical weapons, and supported peaceful nations in the region. The new, wiser Germany will hopefully follow suit #NoSubsForTurkey 17/17
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