As the crisis in Crimea continues, numerous politicians have made references drawing similarities between Russian President Putin and Adolf Hitler. Secretary of State Kerry, Hillary Clinton, Chancellor Merkel, and Stephen Harper have all alluded to Putin’s actions as being reminiscent of the events that led to World War II. Clinton bluntly said that the seizure of Crimea under the claim of protecting ethnic Russians “sounds familiar, it’s what Hitler did back in the ‘30s.”
The right to protect national interests, ethnic populations, and language-speaking inhabitants in irredentist regions were invoked by both Hitler and Putin to justify their occupations of Central Europe and the Crimea, respectively.

However, another parallel can also be drawn between the Crimea crisis and the forgotten 1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus. Turkey invaded the northern half of the island, claiming to protect the ethnic Turkish population from ethnic violence. The international response to Hitler’s aggression was appeasement; the international response to Turkey’s aggression was a pile of UN and European resolutions to respect Cypriot sovereignty that have repeatedly been ignored. The US also imposed an arms embargo on the nation, which was eventually lifted four years later due to the need to draw the country away from the Soviet Bloc. As a result, Northern Cyprus remains under Turkish control today.

Several lessons can be drawn from both the Munich Agreement and the response to Turkey’s Cyprus invasion that can be applied to the current day Crimea crisis with Russia.

Appeasement has been shown not to be an option when dealing with aggressors, who need to be harshly punished. Non-binding resolutions, such as those condemning Turkey’s occupation, will have little to no effect. Turkey shrugged them off, a powerful country such as Russia can be expected to do the same. Multilateral economic sanctions need to be applied on Russia to seriously make Putin regret occupying Crimea. These should not be temporary sanctions lifted at the slightest inconvenience, as the arms embargo on Turkey was. It should be recognized though, that sanctions on Russia, especially economic sanctions, will hurt on both sides, especially for European nations. However, there is no other way if Obama and G7 really intend to punish Putin for acting out of line.

Aaron Yang

Aaron is a freshman from Chandler, Arizona and is interested in International Relations and hopes to focus in East Asia. He is also a passionate fan of Doctor Who, Sherlock, House of Cards, Game of Thrones, and Code Geass. If you see him on campus, bring him a boba and you'll get lots of love!