Greek-Turkish Relations During the Junta Regime in Greece (1967-1974)
Greek-Turkish Relations During the Junta Regime in Greece (1967-1974)

Author(s): Melek Fırat, Özge Özkoç
Subject(s): Post-War period (1950 - 1989)
Published by: Transnational Press London
Keywords: Greek-Turkish; Relations; Junta; Regime; Greece; 1967-1974);
Summary/Abstract: The 1960s witnessed significant changes in the Cold War. After the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, negotiations between the U.S. and USSR on various issues, especially disarmament, started the period of détente. Nevertheless, the U.S. tried to limit the leftist movements and the actions of the USSR both in NATO allies and in the periphery, due to the 68 movement, the decolonization process, and the rise of the Non-Alignment Movement. The seizure of power by the colonels in Greece in 1967, and the three-year interim period in Turkey as a result of the memorandum of 12 March 1971, can therefore be understood in light of the international conjuncture as well as the domestic developments in these two countries. Thus, the US, whose influence on these two NATO allies increased considerably, took action to find a solution to the “Cyprus problem” to counter the resistance to NATO membership led by one of the most influential figures in the Non-Alignment Movement, Archbishop Makarios, and the Cypriot communist party AKEL. For this reason, the Cyprus problem shaped the relations between Greece and Turkey in the period from 1967 to 1974.

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