TURKISH-GREEK RELATIONS: 1999-2010
TURKISH-GREEK RELATIONS: 1999-2010

Summary/Abstract: This paper intends to elaborate on the substantial shift in the pattern of Turkish-Greek relations between 1999 and 2010 and the future prospects for the course of bilateral relations. It is my contention that the European Union membership conditionality and the civil diplomacy triggered by the unexpected earthquakes in both countries in 1999 have been the principal factors in inducing the positive shift in the bilateral relations between 1999 and 2010. Previously, Turkish-Greek relations followed a chequered path, determined largely by their territorial disputes, which brought the two states at times almost at the brink of war. Cyprus has played the major factor plaguing bilateral relations post 1955 along with those pertaining to the Aegean Sea post 1980s. The state of Greek Orthodox and Muslim Turkish minorities has also provoked frictions, though at a relatively less important level. Prior to 1999, ethno-nationalism played a determining role in bilateral relations. This was afterwards replaced by a more instrumentalist, pragmatist and democratic approach owing to the EU factor as well as civil diplomacy.

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