Historical Background -Developments
Greek foreign policy is based on a set of principles related to stability and the inviolability of borders, peaceful settlement of disputes on the basis of international law, and respect of human rights. It is a policy which through certain essential initiatives aims at building up a framework of principles and rules of democracy and law to prevail in our region at large. As
Turkey
comprises an integral part of this region,
Greece
s policy on
Turkey
must therefore be consistent with her policy for the entire region.
The new international environment of globalisation and the strengthening of regional alliances, as well as Turkeys European orientation provide the framework within which Greeces foreign policy towards her neighbour is mapped out and implemented.
Brief historical overview of Greek-Turkish relations
The end of the Second World War opened up a new period of collaboration between the two countries which, as allies within NATO, were called upon to face the new international reality together. The issue of determining the status of Cyprus, however, had a negative effect on bilateral relations, even as far back as the early Fifties. This issue was also directly linked to the fate of the Constantinople Greeks. On 6th September 1955, a Turkish crowd carried out an organised attack on the ethnic Greeks, resulting in numerous casualties and extensive damage to Greek property.
These incidents led to the gradual departure of ethnic Greeks who paid the price of Turkish reaction to the struggle of the Greek-Cypriots. In 1964 the Turkish authorities undertook the mass expulsion of Greek citizens living in
Turkey. At the same time, measures were also taken against Turkish citizens of Greek origin as well as the Patriarchate. Greek minority schools in Imvros and Tenedos were closed down, and in 1971 the Halkis Seminary also closed.
During the Seventies an extended period of crisis in Greek-Turkish relations began with international legality being challenged by Turkey on two levels. As of 1973 she undertook a number of unilateral actions to revise the international legal status of the Aegean, followed in 1974 by efforts to bring about the dissolution of the Republic of Cyprus with the invasion and occupation of its northern part.
Tension between Greece and Turkey reached a peak in the next decade when in March 1987 the two countries were brought to the brink of armed conflict by Turkeys attempt to conduct underwater research on the Greek Continental Shelf in the Aegean. The crisis was defused through an exchange of messages between Prime Ministers Papandreou and Ozal. Subsequently, the meeting of the two leaders in Davos, Switzerland, in February 1988 marked the beginning of efforts on both sides to move towards dtente. However, Turkish claims continued to encumber bilateral relations.
Indeed, since the nineties Turkey has invoked a casus belli in the event of Greece extending her territorial waters. Turkey has also raised the issue of sovereignty over part of Greek territory (Imia).
Greece, for her part, has assessed these perennial problems and adopted a bold approach to bilateral relations with Turkey, aimed at approaching them within a framework of good neighbourliness where the rules of international law will prevail. In 1999 a fresh process of rapprochement began between Greece and Turkey both at bilateral level and within the context of Turkeys European prospects, which Greece steadfastly supports.
Over the past few years there has been a steady improvement in our bilateral relations with Turkey, helped along by contacts between representatives of the entire spectrum of society in the two countries. A contributing factor was the positive impression created in public opinion in both countries by the assistance they provided to each other when both were struck by catastrophic earthquakes. Since then there has been a great deal of contact between representatives of local government, journalists, businessmen, NGO representatives, scientists, academics, pupils, students, etc. These contacts have involved the organisation of visits, meetings, seminars, twinnings of towns and more generally the start of collaboration in many fields. Clearly, ordinary citizens have had a decisive role to play in these developments, helping to reduce the mutual information gap existing in public opinion on both sides. It is against this backdrop that the initiative on rapprochement and collaboration between the two countries on issues of mutual interest that are not politically sensitive has gradually developed.