One hundred summers ago, the forces of the Turkish National Movement, led by the charismatic and confident Mustafa Kemal, had turned the tide and begun pushing the invading Greeks further and further west, with nowhere to go but into the sea.
Just a year prior, Greek military leaders had felt so confident advancing into the Anatolian heartland that they reportedly invited their British allies to a victory dinner in Kemal’s new Turkish capital, Ankara. But the Turks halted that advance at the brutal, game-changing Battle of Sarkaya, some 50 kilometres west of Ankara, and reversed the momentum.
In March 1922, the Allies, led by France, the UK, Italy and the US, suggested the two sides meet for an armistice. But, not unlike Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in recent weeks, ignoring western advice to hand land to Russia, Kemal instead hoped to push the invaders fully out of his territory.
To that end, Turkish forces launched what came to be known as the Great Offensive in late August and quickly took Afyonkarahisar and Dumlupinar. On September 1, Kemal famously urged his charges: “Your first goal is the Mediterranean. Forward!”
They reached their destination in a matter of days, a humbling defeat for the Greeks and a canonical victory for Kemal, who would sign the Treaty of Lausanne the next year, found the Republic of Turkey and later be dubbed “Ataturk”, or Father of the Turks.
This region-shaping moment came to mind last week when Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, amid fast-rising Greco-Turkish tensions, delivered a rare tweet stream in Greek, advising Athens to mind its manners in the Aegean. “We warn once again Greece to be prudent, to stay away from dreams, rhetoric and actions that will lead to results it will regret, as happened a century ago,” he tweeted.
Three decades of relative amity followed the war and the 1923 population exchange, but the two neighbours and rivals have been at each other’s throats ever since: Turkish pogroms in 1955, Turkey’s invasion of Cyprus in 1974 and the island’s ensuing division; banging the drums of war in 1987, 1996 and 2020.
Over the past year, a series of talks hinted at a thaw, until Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis visited Washington in late May, finalised a deal for F-35 fighter jets and urged the US Congress not to send military hardware, presumably F-16s, to Turkey. “He no longer exists for me,” Mr Erdogan said of Mr Mitsotakis in response. “I will never agree to meet with him.”
Greece came back with a dismissive comment and, as per the routine, the tensions soon escalated to include maritime border disagreements in the Mediterranean, Aegean island militarisation and violations of airspace.
Last week, after Ankara hinted that the sovereignty of certain Greek islands in the Aegean might come under question, Athens sent letters to the UN outlining its complaints and the US urged the Nato allies to resolve their disputes through diplomacy. High drama, yet also a bit of a broken record.
Amid the greatest hits, the longtime Turkish leader’s reference to what happened a century ago stands out. Setting aside the obvious point – Greece’s humbling – that Turkish victory still today represents a defeat of western imperialism.
Greek forces had captured a great swathe of Anatolia stretching from Izmir to Bursa and Eskisehir, while the Allies had taken control of the Mediterranean jewel of Antalya and the grand prize, Istanbul, as well as Canakkale – ensuring full control of the Turkish straits. Not since Fatih Sultan Mehmet II trotted into Constantinople on his white horse in May 1453 had Turks felt so vulnerable.
Mr Erdogan’s reference signalled that Turks today might feel similarly hemmed in by its supposed western allies: when Greece places troops on Aegean islands (though there’s little evidence of this); when the EU restricts Turkey’s maritime boundaries or access to Cypriot energy reserves; when the US partners with Turkey’s foes in northern Syria and opposes Ankara’s Syria policy.
The ruling AKP has in recent weeks received its lowest-ever polling numbers, just a year out from a national vote, and Turkish warnings of aggression against Greece are an assertion of nationalist might that is largely meant for a domestic audience.
Of course, it’s not all for show. Ryan Gingeras, a top Turkish historian and national security professor at the California-based Naval Postgraduate School, wrote last week that, in light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a new Greco-Turkish war “is not only possible but perhaps, at some point, probable".
Yet at least for now, these standoffs almost appear staged. As each side, and each country’s opposition, takes political advantage of the moment, one can almost envision back-channel diplomats sending each other quiet thumbs up about the ramped-up rhetoric.
As with Ankara’s looming incursion into northern Syria to take on Kurdish militants, a bit of rhetorical sparring with Greece underscores Turkey’s military’s confidence while also sticking it to the “imperialist” West. Domestically, that’s a win-win.
Going to war with Greece, on the other hand, would be disastrous for Turkey, Greece, the US and Nato – not to mention the Nato-backed war effort in Ukraine. But as recent history has shown, that it is an exercise in futility doesn’t mean it won’t happen.
What is graphene?
Graphene is a single layer of carbon atoms arranged like honeycomb.
It was discovered in 2004, when Russian-born Manchester scientists Andrei Geim and Kostya Novoselov were "playing about" with sticky tape and graphite - the material used as "lead" in pencils.
Placing the tape on the graphite and peeling it, they managed to rip off thin flakes of carbon. In the beginning they got flakes consisting of many layers of graphene. But as they repeated the process many times, the flakes got thinner.
By separating the graphite fragments repeatedly, they managed to create flakes that were just one atom thick. Their experiment had led to graphene being isolated for the very first time.
At the time, many believed it was impossible for such thin crystalline materials to be stable. But examined under a microscope, the material remained stable, and when tested was found to have incredible properties.
It is many times times stronger than steel, yet incredibly lightweight and flexible. It is electrically and thermally conductive but also transparent. The world's first 2D material, it is one million times thinner than the diameter of a single human hair.
But the 'sticky tape' method would not work on an industrial scale. Since then, scientists have been working on manufacturing graphene, to make use of its incredible properties.
In 2010, Geim and Novoselov were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics. Their discovery meant physicists could study a new class of two-dimensional materials with unique properties.
Milestones on the road to union
1970
October 26: Bahrain withdraws from a proposal to create a federation of nine with the seven Trucial States and Qatar.
December: Ahmed Al Suwaidi visits New York to discuss potential UN membership.
1971
March 1: Alex Douglas Hume, Conservative foreign secretary confirms that Britain will leave the Gulf and “strongly supports” the creation of a Union of Arab Emirates.
July 12: Historic meeting at which Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid make a binding agreement to create what will become the UAE.
July 18: It is announced that the UAE will be formed from six emirates, with a proposed constitution signed. RAK is not yet part of the agreement.
August 6: The fifth anniversary of Sheikh Zayed becoming Ruler of Abu Dhabi, with official celebrations deferred until later in the year.
August 15: Bahrain becomes independent.
September 3: Qatar becomes independent.
November 23-25: Meeting with Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid and senior British officials to fix December 2 as date of creation of the UAE.
November 29: At 5.30pm Iranian forces seize the Greater and Lesser Tunbs by force.
November 30: Despite a power sharing agreement, Tehran takes full control of Abu Musa.
November 31: UK officials visit all six participating Emirates to formally end the Trucial States treaties
December 2: 11am, Dubai. New Supreme Council formally elects Sheikh Zayed as President. Treaty of Friendship signed with the UK. 11.30am. Flag raising ceremony at Union House and Al Manhal Palace in Abu Dhabi witnessed by Sheikh Khalifa, then Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.
December 6: Arab League formally admits the UAE. The first British Ambassador presents his credentials to Sheikh Zayed.
December 9: UAE joins the United Nations.
The bio
Favourite book: Peter Rabbit. I used to read it to my three children and still read it myself. If I am feeling down it brings back good memories.
Best thing about your job: Getting to help people. My mum always told me never to pass up an opportunity to do a good deed.
Best part of life in the UAE: The weather. The constant sunshine is amazing and there is always something to do, you have so many options when it comes to how to spend your day.
Favourite holiday destination: Malaysia. I went there for my honeymoon and ended up volunteering to teach local children for a few hours each day. It is such a special place and I plan to retire there one day.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The drill
Recharge as needed, says Mat Dryden: “We try to make it a rule that every two to three months, even if it’s for four days, we get away, get some time together, recharge, refresh.” The couple take an hour a day to check into their businesses and that’s it.
Stick to the schedule, says Mike Addo: “We have an entire wall known as ‘The Lab,’ covered with colour-coded Post-it notes dedicated to our joint weekly planner, content board, marketing strategy, trends, ideas and upcoming meetings.”
Be a team, suggests Addo: “When training together, you have to trust in each other’s abilities. Otherwise working out together very quickly becomes one person training the other.”
Pull your weight, says Thuymi Do: “To do what we do, there definitely can be no lazy member of the team.”
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Dubai works towards better air quality by 2021
Dubai is on a mission to record good air quality for 90 per cent of the year – up from 86 per cent annually today – by 2021.
The municipality plans to have seven mobile air-monitoring stations by 2020 to capture more accurate data in hourly and daily trends of pollution.
These will be on the Palm Jumeirah, Al Qusais, Muhaisnah, Rashidiyah, Al Wasl, Al Quoz and Dubai Investment Park.
“It will allow real-time responding for emergency cases,” said Khaldoon Al Daraji, first environment safety officer at the municipality.
“We’re in a good position except for the cases that are out of our hands, such as sandstorms.
“Sandstorms are our main concern because the UAE is just a receiver.
“The hotspots are Iran, Saudi Arabia and southern Iraq, but we’re working hard with the region to reduce the cycle of sandstorm generation.”
Mr Al Daraji said monitoring as it stood covered 47 per cent of Dubai.
There are 12 fixed stations in the emirate, but Dubai also receives information from monitors belonging to other entities.
“There are 25 stations in total,” Mr Al Daraji said.
“We added new technology and equipment used for the first time for the detection of heavy metals.
“A hundred parameters can be detected but we want to expand it to make sure that the data captured can allow a baseline study in some areas to ensure they are well positioned.”
