In the second year of the #GreekRevolution, British admiral Hamilton suggested to the de facto leader of the #Greeks, Theodore #Kolokotronis, that the time had come to negotiate with the #Ottomans, with Britain as the mediator. Kolokotronis responded: #theHELC #25March1821 🧵1/6 'We will never do so, now is the time for freedom or death. We, admiral, never negotiated with the #Turks. Many of us were killed, many enslaved, and a few lived free from one generation to the next. Our King was killed, he never negotiated, and his guard continued the war' 2/6

There was uproar in #France when the city of #Strasbourg agreed to pay €2.5m towards the construction of a new #mosque by a radical #Turkish #Islamist organization in 2021. But who is #MilliGorus and what are their aims? A thread by #theHELC 1/10 Millî Görüş ("National Vision") is a religious-political movement that found expression in a series of #Islamist parties culminating in #Erdogan’s AKP. It argues that Turkey can develop as a rival to the West, by protecting its core values and trusting in God 2/10

#Turkey distorting a 100 year old treaty to once again make empty threats of war against #Greece is in the finest tradition of #Putin (and before him #Goebbels). A quick primer and debunking of #Erdogan's inane claims about the #Lausanne treaty 1/13 Context: at the end of the #Greco-Turkish War of 1919-1922, the Greek army, abandoned by its Western Allies and with the #Soviet #Russians openly aiding Turkey, left #Anatolia and retreated to the Greek islands of the Northern Aegean 2/13

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 drill ship #AbdulHamidHan, #Erdogan’s latest vanity project in a country where 15 million people suffer from hunger, was launched yesterday. But who was #AbdulHamid after whom the vessel was named? A thread on the #BloodySultan and the #HamidianMassacres by #theHELC 1/12 Abdul Hamid II was Sultan of the #Ottoman Empire from 1876 to 1909. During his reign, unrest amongst his oppressed subjects in the #Balkans and Asia Minor intensified. His barbaric response would culminate in the massacres of #Armenians and #Assyrians of 1894–1896 2/12

Turkey's leaders are taking a break from enabling #Russia against #NATO and ethnic cleansing Syria’s #Kurds to launch absurd claims and empty threats against Greek islands. We take a look at the painful history of Turkish rule on one of them: a thread on #Chios from #theHELC 1/10 The history of the Greeks in Chios goes back more than 3,000 years reaching to #Minoan and #Mycenaean times. Chios is the most likely birthplace of #Homer and had its own coins and democratic parliament by 600 BC. Its famous wine was exported from the Black Sea to #Egypt 2/10

Protecting Europe’s frontiers with state-of-the-art European technology. A thread on French warplanes in the Hellenic Air Force… #theHELC #France #Rafale #Mirage #HAF Modern Greek-French relations have deep historical roots going back to the Napoleonic period. In more recent years, Greece’s alliance with France has played a game-changing role in the Hellenic Air Force’s vital mission of defending the airspace of the European Union and NATO.