Eternity or the elephant’s coins

It was on this site quite early (Jean Quatremer, « La Turquie exclue volontairement de l’euro », lundi 6 août 2007), and has now found a broader interest in the press both in Turkey and internationally: On the next generation of Euro coins, Turkey shall be wiped from European geography, while Cyprus is removed from its real geographic position to be closer to Greece than to (the no longer visible) Turkey.

Of course, this has nothing to do with geography and its representation on coins.

It must be seen as a normative bid, just because it does not represent the physical reality which it claims on the surface. It is a political claim, and it may be interpreted as a manifestation of religion-political “identity” of the editor(s) of the coin, virtually the European Union.

Though, as such it is in contradiction with many documents of both the institutions of the EU (and indeed the EU commission had a very different proposal* ), as well as of every member state.

An “Enosis” ?

It meets a political goal that the EU members rather like to forget: the so-called “Enosis”. At the time (the latest active attempt dates from 1974) it meant the accession of Cyprus to Greece.

Some may be reminded of other events, such like the “Enosis” event in Austrian history, which also was an outcome of unsettled relationships in the ruins of an empire. It might be interesting to look for mental similarities here, too, as “Enosis” is of course only one of several options, and it may not only represent the kind of solution preferred by the military junta of Greece back then, but also, now, of the governments of Euro-zone countries.

Moreover, it would be interesting for me to learn how the academic community may evaluate the event. There are certainly many options how to classify the event. For instance, is it “postmodern”?

In a sense, I find the idea to “move away” Cyprus and “drop” Turkey quite witty. Naturally, it does not represent physical geography, but a mental event and its physical consequences on another level. I was told that such things may happen if one is scared to death. Though here it’s the elephant scared by the rabbit.

The interest is also (very) sustainable not least because the technique of re-arranging geography on a map imprinted on coin-metal provides for long durability as well as broad dispersal. All around the world and perhaps for millenia it will be visibly documented how the United Europe dropped the reality-principle in fear of “the Turk”!

And what a bravery (or is it a shame?) to expose oneself worldwide in such a state of (lost) mind!

* According to The New Anatolian, qoting The Financial Times,
“The European Commission proposed a map of Europe as far east as the Caspian Sea, including the whole of Turkey. But a private meeting of national governments grouped in the European Council indulged in some colonial-style redrawing. EU member Cyprus was squeezed into the revised design by shunting it hundreds of kilometres west of its true location below Turkey to lie next to Crete.”