Greeks would vote to join Turkey, Turkish PM’s chief adviser claims

ISTANBUL

Greece would willingly rejoin Turkey if a popular referendum were held on the subject, according to the prime minister’s chief adviser, Yiğit Bulut. DHA photo

Greece would willingly turn back the clock 200 years and rejoin Turkey if a popular referendum were held on the subject, according to the prime minister’s chief adviser, Yiğit Bulut.“If a referendum were held today in Greece, more than 51 percent of the people would vote in favor of quitting the European Union and joining Turkey,” the news anchor-turned-adviser said in an Oct. 9 interview with Habertürk.Greece gained independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1830 following a difficult independence war, and Greeks have long viewed Turkey with suspicion since.Asserting that Turkey was currently enlarging its sphere of influence in the region, Bulut said the country had matured out of a structure in which a single identity was superior to others, referring to Turkishness.Bulut claimed earlier this month that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was a “socialist,” prompting reaction from the government.“If there is a true socialist in Turkey, it is Recep Tayyip Erdoğan,” Bulut said, but Justice and Development Party (AKP) spokesperson Hüseyin Çelik responded to him, saying, “Erdoğan is a conservative and democratic person, but he is not a socialist.”During the height of the Gezi Park protests, Bulut made international headlines when he said certain powers were trying to kill Erdoğan through telekinesis.“In many centers there is work going on to kill Erdoğan from afar, through methods like telekinesis,” he said.