Greece has gone bankrupt. However, I won't be mentioning the contradiction in the “Let us pay the debts of Greece” suggestion of some people in Turkey, who are saying “our economy is bad, we are going bankrupt”.
No, I won't be talking about the frustration of the people who almost declared Tsipras, who triumphed in the elections 6 months ago, as the Savior Messiah and make fun of them saying; “the condition of the left wing is obvious, you are left with AK Party again”.
Because, the situation is critical. Because, Greece's fall is presenting the projection of the crack in the EU idea.
It's hasn't even been 25 years since the establishment of the European Union, but their common currency, the Euro, was being used for the past 15 years. However, it seems like the deep cracks and irremediable splits already started at the point arrived. So much that, Greece, which is believed to have formed the core of Europe and thus been treated like a heirloom by the rich countries of Europe until now, is being addressed with the “shut up” scolding at the President level for a while now. However, it's assumed that Europe's philosophy is based on the Ancient Greek culture; Europe's vocabulary is based on Latin and Europe's culture is based on the Greek mythology. From Herodotus to Plato and Aristo, from Sparta to Olympus and Pantheon, from Artemis to Prometheus and Zeus; Greece is the root, base and summary of Europe's history.
However, this moral prerogative couldn't save Greece from being humiliated by strong EU countries like Germany and France in front of the whole world. Greece's historic weight couldn't prevent our neighbor from being treated as a “burden that is desired to be offloaded”.
Because, the European Union idea had been shaped with religious bases, as much as geographically. As for the economic inequalities between the countries; it had been regarded as a small problem that could be overcome with strong economies supporting the weaker ones. However, especially after the 2008 crisis; it was understood that things turned out differently.
Besides, the European Union's humor came from being an attempt to exceed the nation-state model. At the point we've arrived, some murmurs from the German community like “why are we working to support Greeks?”, which doesn't seem to be supra-national, started to arise.
Actually, the European Union idea had been revealed as a new model after it was thought that following the second part of the 20th century the nation-states created both nationalism and racism, and, that the nation-states are losing their position against the infectiousness of globalism. Neither the city states, remnants of the ancient eras, nor the Empire models of the Middle Age, could meet the necessities of our day. Yes, there were also supra-national structures without geographies, like the United Nations; however, as we all know, the United Nations only did the duty of covering inequalities, other than spreading the global circulation of the sovereigns.
Thus, for being a supra-national model, the European Union was exciting for surrounding countries like us. However, Europe, as well as the geography, chose the “religion” factor of the geography as its common denominator criteria; Europe had taken to the road with the objective to exceed discriminations and nationalisms. And on that road they created deep discriminations directed inside and outside. For example, inside “The one who paid the piper, called the tune”; Merkel told Tsipras to “shut up”; while on the outside, Turkey, a Muslim country, has never been accepted to this union, despite the fact that Turkey's economy is way better than many European countries…
Besides, it's interesting to see that; in the European Union countries, which had taken the road to exceed the nationalism disadvantages of the nation-states, an immigrant and foreigner enmity resurrected. While travelling became easy for the ones inside the union as the borders were lifted and just a passport was necessary to travel from one country to another; the visa implementations applied to the outsiders, enraged the “foreigners”.
In the end, the European Union idea, as an attempt to exceed the nation-state model, which forms the source and result of the nationalism – as a notice, Hitler and Mussolini fascisms' bases were also extreme interpretations of nationalism – that started with the nation-state idea that was revealed on the history scene following the French Revolution, doesn't seem to be successful.
There will be a referendum in Greece this Sunday. Most possibly, the U.S., who is scared of losing Greece to Russia, and the EU elders like Germany, who are scared of the Euro-Zone disintegrating, will be making the decision to get Greece back on its feet.
However, in the end; even if Greece is saved, this wasn't the display targeted with the European Union, and it's clear that the religion brotherhood was not enough to get rid of the nation nationalism. It seems that Europe and the world should put more effort into exceeding the nation-state model.
