Foreign relations of Greece: Encyclopedia II - Foreign relations of Greece - Turkey

Foreign relations of Greece - Turkey

Greece and Turkey carried out a population exchange in the 1920s in an attempt to reduce tensions between the two countries. It was not a complete exchange of minorities, as significant Greek communities remained in Istanbul and Turkish communities stayed in Western Thrace. Nevertheless, the strategy worked, and the two sides enjoyed good relations and cooperation in the 1930s. They began to deteriorate in the mid-1950s, however, mainly because of Cyprus. Relations have been steadily improving again since the turn of the century.

The decade of 1950s was marked by the actions of EOKA, a Cypriot nationalist group fighting the British colonial government and demanding a unification of Cyprus with Greece (enosis). There have been claims that EOKA was also targeting the Turkish Cypriot community.

In 1960, Some members of EOKA were indignant over the fact that enosis was not granted, and formed EOKA-B to instigate a coup against President of Cyprus Makarios III. The July 15, 1974 coup was supported by the Greek military junta in Athens. Turkey reacted with a military invasion that helped bring about the fall of the Greek military dictatorship. It also led to the de facto division of Cyprus. The atrocities instigated by both Greek and Turkish Cypriots on the island led to the demolishment of the military junta and the restitution of democracy in Greece.

The Turkish government has claimed that the invasion was justified by the guarantorship agreement between Turkey, Greece and the United Kingdom. EOKA and EOKA-B no longer exist, but Turkish troops remain on the island, and a separate state was proclaimed in 1975 under the name Turkish Federated State of Northern Cyprus. The name was changed to Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus on 15 November 1983. This self proclaimed state is not a UN member and is not recognized by any nation except Turkey. Azerbaijan maintains unofficial relations with the "TRNC" but has not officially recognized it except for a resolution from a subnational legislative body.

Other issues dividing Greece and Turkey involve the delimitation of the continental shelf in the Aegean Sea, territorial waters and airspace, and the condition of the Greek minority in Turkey and the Muslim minority in Greece. Greek and Turkish officials held meetings in the 1970s to discuss differences on Aegean questions, but Greece discontinued these discussions in the fall of 1981. In 1983, Greece and Turkey held talks on trade and tourism, but these were suspended by Greece when Turkey recognized the illegal Turkish-Cypriot declaration of an independent state in northern Cyprus in November 1983.

After a dangerous dispute in the Aegean in March 1987 concerning oil drilling rights, the Prime Ministers of Greece and Turkey exchanged messages exploring the possibility of resolving the dispute over the continental shelf. Greece wanted the dispute to be decided by the International Court of Justice. Turkey preferred bilateral political discussions. In early 1988, the Turkish and Greek Prime Ministers met at Davos, Switzerland, and later in Brussels. They agreed on various measures to reduce bilateral tensions and to encourage cooperation. New tensions over the Aegean Sea surfaced in November 1994, precipitated by Greece's claims that the Law of the Sea Treaty states that it reserved the right to declare a 12 nautical mile (22 km) territorial sea boundary around its Aegean islands as permitted by the treaty. Turkey stated that it would consider any such action a cause for war. New technical-level bilateral discussions began in 1994 but soon fizzled-out.

In January 1996, Greece and Turkey came close to an armed confrontation over the question of which country had sovereignty over an islet in the Aegean. In July 1997, on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Madrid, Greek and Turkish leaders reached agreement on six principles to govern their bilateral relations. Within a few months, however, the two countries were again at odds over Aegean airspace and sovereignty issues. Tensions remained high for months, although various confidence-building measures were discussed to reduce the risk of military accidents or conflict in the Aegean, under the auspices of the NATO Secretary General.

Relations between the two countries began to improve steadily since a devasting earthquake in Kocaeli on August 17, 1999. Greece was among the first countries to send aid and rescue teams to the region, and Turkey returned the gesture when a smaller earthquake shook Athens later that year. Since then, Greece has come out in support of Turkey's bid for EU membership, and there has been greatly increased co-operation between the two countries to resolve the Cyprus dispute.

It must be noted that the Republic of Cyprus is a sovereign state with its own diplomatic corps and Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Though a highly sentimental issue for both populations, the Cyprus problem is mainly a bilateral problem between northern and southern Cypriots.

On May 6, 2004, Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan became the first Turkish premier to visit Greece in sixteen years. Two days later, he became the first PM in 52 years to visit the Greek Muslim minority in Western Thrace, a community which has been at the centre of rifts between Greece and Turkey for decades. He said, "I'm specially addressing my brothers. You will, without doubt, protect your special identity. Nobody is telling you to lose or give up your Turkish identity. But don't forget you are citizens of Greece." His words were a clear indication of how much relations had improved, though the implications of the characterization of the muslim minority as a "turkish" are potentially perplexing.

Foreign relations of Greece - References

• BBC News Online (8 May 2004). Turkish PM visits Greek Muslims.

See also

• Aegean crisis
• Cyprus dispute
• Greco-Turkish relations

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Turkey", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki