Greek-Turkish conflict-ridden relations have long occupied a problematic position in the Western alliance, first in NATO then, more dramatically, within the context of the newly developing European Union and its defence initiatives. Following three major earthquakes on both sides of the Aegean, the two countries have now experienced, firstly, a public empathy towards each other, and secondly, a significant diplomatic rapprochement. This rapprochement though has failed to resolve the Cyprus conflict, and is now at risk of reverting back to a series of conflicts. This book addresses the crucial issues between Greece and Turkey, from a critical perspective, and provides an up-to-date assessment of the current state of the Greek-Turkish rapprochement and its future development. This book was previously published as a special issue of the journal Turkish Studies.

This volume aims addresses the issues of Greek-Turkish conflict from a critical perspective and provides an up-to-date assessment of the recent rapprochement and its future development.

This study of the Greek-Turkish Aegean dispute book shows that the dispute is resolvable and that the crux of the problem is not the incompatibility of interests but the mutual fears and suspicions, which are deeply rooted in historical memories, real or imagined.

Turkish-Greek relations are marked by a long trajectory of enmity and tension. This book sets out to explore the ‘other side’ of that history, focusing on initiatives that have promoted contact between the two societies and encouraged rapprochement. Presenting a new critical re-description of Turkish-Greek rapprochement processes over a lengthy time span (1974-2013), Turkish-Greek Relations offers innovative explanations for the emergence of the reconciliation movement. Instead of lineal continuities, the book explores different routes that these efforts for rapprochement have followed, reflected in the divergent visions for a ‘Turkish-Greek friendship’ pursued by actors as distinct as radical leftists, civil society activists, local government representatives, artists and liberal intellectuals, as well as journalists, politicians and businessmen. Drawing on political discourse theory and social anthropology, this book employs extensive archival research into Turkish and Greek sources, significant numbers of interviews with pioneers of the rapprochement movement, and an original ethnographic study, to examine the competing claims for ‘Greek-Turkish friendship’. In doing so, it is possible to assess their successes and failures, prospects and predicaments. A valuable addition to existing literature, this book will be of interest to scholars and researchers of International Relations, Peace and Reconciliation Studies, and Politics.

The volume contains a selection of papers presented at an international conference on "Intercultural Aspects in and around Turkic Literatures" in Nicosia in 2003. The contributions address various aspects of and views on interculturalism, cosmopolitanism, stereotypes and crosscultural literary trends in Turkic literatures and literatures in contact with Turkic culture and literatures, namely Greek, Russian, and Italian. The contributors, who come from nine different countries, examine topics from the analysis of the image of the "other" in Turkish or "neighbouring" literary texts to the investigation of literary techniques and trends as a device of interculturalism and cosmopolitanism and cover a period from the 18th to the 20th century. Also included are introductory chapters on the historical and political context of the contact areas discussed in the contributions.

The Oxford Handbook of Modern Greek Politics is a major new contribution to the study of contemporary European and Greek politics. This edited volume contains 43 chapters written by Greek and foreign academics foremost in their field. After an introductory section, offering a frame of analysis, the volume includes sections on political institutions, traditions and party families, political and social interest groups, policy-making and policy sectors, external relations, and Greece's most important political leaders of the period between the 1974 transition to democracy and today. It will be an invaluable reference for scholars, new and established, as well as for the informed reader around the world. This work offers the most comprehensive approach to the subject to this day. Drawing on data and analysis previously available only in national sources (Greek books, articles, and other primary and secondary sources), in combination with international data, it allows international scholars of politics, international relations, society, and economy to integrate the case of Greece in their own projects; and facilitates the search of any informed reader who seeks a reliable, updated source on Modern Greece.

When Abdullah Ocalan, leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), was arrested in February 1999, it marked a turning point in relations between Greece and Turkey. As the country's most wanted man, his arrest was greeted with jubilation throughout most of Turkey. However, it also led to a public outcry when it emerged that he had been captured leaving the Greek Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya. This was seen as definitive proof that the Greek Government had been aiding and abetting the PKK. In the days and weeks that followed the arrest, relations between the Aegean neighbours sank to their lowest level since the summer of 1974, when Athens and Ankara had come to the brink of war over Cyprus. However, by the end of the year, the picture could not have been more different. An improbable series of events that included a regional conflict, two major disasters and the death of a senior Greek politician had led to a complete transformation in the relations between the two countries. The crowning moment of this change came in December when Greece dropped its long-standing opposition to Turkish candidacy for EU membership. How did this remarkable change come about? Who should take the credit? And what did it mean for diplomatic relations in the Eastern Mediterranean? This is the story of how two countries started down a path to peace after decades of tension and hostility and how, over the course of one monumental year, relations between Greece and Turkey went from the brink of conflict to an unprecedented affirmation of friendship and solidarity.

This book offers a sober, contemplative and comprehensive coverage of Greek–Turkish relations, covering in depth the current political climate, with due regard to the historical dimension. The book includes up-to-date accounts of the traditional areas of unresolved discord (Aegean, minorities, Cyprus, the Patriarchate), with emphasis on why they remain contentious, despite the thaw in Greek–Turkish relations from 1999 until recently. It also covers new topics and challenges that have led to cooperation as well as friction, such as unprecedented economic cooperation, energy resources, or the refugee crisis. Furthermore, the volume deals with the ‘Europeanization’ of Greek–Turkish relations and other facilitating factors as they appeared in the first decade of the 21st century (including the role of civil society) as well as the contrary, ‘de-Europeanization’ from the 2010 onwards, which presages a hazardous downward trend in their relations, often not helped by the media in both countries, which is also examined. This volume will be essential reading to scholars and students of Greek–Turkish relations, more generally Greece and Turkey, and more broadly to the study of South European Politics, European Union politics, security studies and International Relations.

For many years, Greece and Turkey have been involved in aggressive rivalry over large areas of the Aegean Sea as well as Cyprus. Their conflicts endanger the peace between these two NATO allies and have even brought the two nations to the brink of war, but no agreement has been reached despite their mutual assistance in the aftermath of the earthquakes suffered by both countries in the summer of 1999. This work provides an in-depth discussion of how the conflicts began, the matter of Cyprus and international law, disputes and near-war situations over the Aegean, the dynamics of and prospects for a new Greek-Turkish partnership, and current developments in disputes and relations.

The World of Protracted Conflicts seeks to frame the models to answer three crucial questions about interstate protracted conflict: what are the most likely conditions for the onset of a protracted conflict, its escalation/persistence, and its termination? It presents the findings on protracted conflict occurrence, continuation, and resolution through testing these models and their derived hypotheses against the evidence from 33 interstate protracted conflicts in the last century. These findings will, in turn, shed further light on the conflict-crisis-war linkage. This book examines and explains patterns that exist in the eruption, evolution, and winding down of these conflicts through a systematic comparison of recent and contemporary PCs.