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Greece and Turkey: New Solutions to Old Problems
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20347 |
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CURRENT ISSUES
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| Issue
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6 / 1992 |
2,295 Words |
| Author
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Nikolaos A. Stavrou
Nikolaos A. Stavrou is professor of international affairs at
Howard University. |
Five years ago this author described the southern flank of NATO as a "wing in disarray," unable to perform expected tasks and effectively face what then loomed as a massive Soviet threat. [THE WORLD & I, May 1987]. The causes of NATO's dysfunction were traceable to an array of unresolved and complex issues involving Greece and Turkey that had accumulated since the 1955 government orchestrated anti-Greek riots in Istanbul and made worse by the 1974 invasion of Cyprus. Moreover, the rise to power in 1981 of a Greek socialist leader with an anti-NATO agenda introduced an ideological dimension to Greco-Turkish relations that left little room for the resolution of critical issues. On the other side of the Aegean Sea, a series of Turkish governments seemed determined to carve a dominant role for Ankara in the region in accordance with long-range strategic plans that assumed the permanence of the Soviet threat. In the era of bipolarity, Turkey's role loomed large in Western strategic thinking. Its importance and commensurate assistance from NATO and the United Sates left few incentive for Ankara to seriously address Greco-Turkish disputes.
All issues that have divided the two countries for decades still await resolution. However, a new climate of cooperation is now evident. During the past two years, the governments of Greece and Turkey have engaged in an uninterrupted dialogue across the entire spectrum of their relations. Though none of the problems that have divided the two NATO allies is any closer to resolution, the fact that the two governments talk about them at the highest level has contributed to the lessening of tensions and the setting of new standards for cooperative behavior. After more than 15 years of tensions, political leaders in Ankara and Athens have shown signs of statesmanship, courage, and a willingness to undertake new efforts to resolve critical issues and to put an end to decade of mistrust and mutual recriminations.
The changes in Greco-Turkish relations are not accidental. They are the product of new thinking by experienced leaders and reflect a realization by both that the new world order could leave them behind if they fail to join the forces of democracy and progress. Both realized, too, that they had to take a direct interest in the redefinition of the regional configurations of power.
New Climate in Both Countries
In April 1990, after two previous indecisive general elections, the leader of Greece's pro-Western New Democracy Party, Constantine Mitsotakis, secured a parliamentary majority and
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