Greece–Turkey relations

Greece–Turkey relations

Greece	Turkey
Diplomatic mission
Embassy of Greece, Ankara	Embassy of Turkey, Athens

For relations before 1923 with the Ottoman Empire, see Greece–Ottoman Empire relations.

Greece and Turkey have a competitive relationship with a long history and complex issues. Turkey was formed in 1923 and is considered the legal successor of the Ottoman Empire. Greece was recognised as an independent state by the Ottoman Empire in 1830. Culturally, Greeks and Turks have had relations as early as the 6th century CE.

Greece and Turkey since their formation have used real and imagined trauma of each other to justify their nationalism. Yet, Greek-Turkish feuding was not a significant factor in international relations from 1930 to 1955 and during the cold war decades, domestic and bipolarity politics limited their competitiveness. However, by the mid-1990s and decades to follow, the restraint on their rivalry was removed and both nations had become each other's biggest security risk.

Control of the eastern Mediterranean and Aegean remain the basis of their rivalry. Post World War II the UNCLOS treaty, decolonisation of Cyprus and the addition of the Dodecanese to Greece’s territory has been what unpins their turbulent contemporary history and relations. There are several issues that are frequent in their current relations, which include territory disputes over the sea and air, minority rights, and Turkey's relationship with the European Union and its members especially Cyprus. Control over energy pipelines is increasingly a focus in their relations.

Diplomatic missions

The first official diplomatic contacts between Greece and the Ottoman Empire occurred in 1830. Consular relations between Greece and the Ottoman Empire were established in 1834. A embassy opened in 1853 in Istanbul, discontinued during periods of crisis after and eventually transferred to the new capital Ankara in 1923 when Turkey was formed.

• Turkey's missions in Greece include its embassy in Athens and consulates general in Thessaloniki, Komotini and Rhodes.
• Greece's missions in Turkey include its embassy in Ankara and consulates general in Istanbul, İzmir and Edirne.

Background

For three thousand years, the land that comprises modern Greece and modern Turkey before their division as nation states had a long shared history.

Modern day Greece is territory that was during the classical period mostly controlled by Ancient Greek city states and kingdoms (900–146 BC), the Macedonian Empire (335–323 BC) and subsequent Hellenistic States (323–146 BC) following by the Roman era starting with the Roman Republic (146–27 BC), then the Roman Empire (27 BC–395 AD), and in the medieval period the Byzantine Empire (395–1204, 1261–1453) before the conquest by the Ottoman Empire until the Greek revolution that formed Greece.

The Greek presence in Asia Minor dates at least from the Late Bronze Age (1450 BC). Starting around 1200 BC, the coast of Turkey's Anatolia was heavily settled by Aeolian and Ionian Greeks, by the 6th century BC conquered by the Persian Achaemenid Empire, then 334 Alexander the Great's Macedonian Empire followed by the Hellenistic States and the Roman era (Roman Republic, Roman Empire and Byzantine Empire), the subsequent colonisation by Turkic people with powers such as the Seljuq Empire (1037–1194), the Seljuq Sultanate of Rum (1077–1307) and the Ottoman Empire (1299–1923) until its defeat during World War 1 and the subsequent Turkish revolution that formed Turkey.

The Byzantine Empire and Ottoman Empire, although different regimes to the modern nations of Greece and Turkey, factor into the nations' modern relations as heritage. Some academics claim Turkey is not a successor state but the legal continuation of the Ottoman Empire as a Republic. Some view the Byzantine Empire, the Roman Empire during the medieval era, the medieval expression of a Greek nation and a pre-modern nation state.

Greek and Turk relations: 6th–19th centuries

Main articles: Foreign relations of the Byzantine Empire § Byzantine and Persian-Turk relations, and Greece–Ottoman Empire relations § The Rum Millet: 15th–19th centuries

See also: Names of the Greeks, Background of the Greek War of Independence, and Greek Plan

The Göktürks of the First Turkic Khaganate, which came to prominence in 552 CE, were the first Turkic state to use the name Türk politically. The first contact with the Romans (Byzantine Empire) is believed to be 563. The 10th century saw the rise of the Seljuk Turks. Following their rise and subsequent fall, the Ottoman dynasty filled the vacuum and become the Ottoman Empire. In 1453, the Ottoman Empire conquered Constantinople, the capital city of the Byzantine Empire. They followed by conquering its splinter states, such as the Despotate of the Morea in 1460, the Empire of Trebizond in 1461, and the Principality of Theodoro in 1475.

All of modern Greece by the time of the capture of the Desporate of the Morea was under Ottoman authority, with the exception of some of the islands. Life would have several dimensions living under the Ottoman Empire, which included autonomy under the church, extra taxes and slavery. The Romioi in various places of the Greek peninsula would at times rise up against Ottoman rule, which were of mixed scale and impact. Greek nationalism started to appear in the 18th century and in March 1821, the Greek War of Independence from the Ottoman Empire began.

Greece and Ottoman Empire relations: 1822–1923

Main articles: Greek War of Independence and Greece–Ottoman Empire relations

See also: Eastern Question, Megali Idea, Greco-Turkish War (1897), and Balkan Wars

The black area indicates the territority claimed by Venizelos, a proponent of the Megali Idea, at the Paris Peace conference after WW1 in 1919. The shaded region is where Greek and French claims conflict.

Territorial Expansion of Greece from 1832 to 1947

Following the Greek war of independence, Greece was formed as an independent state in 1830. The relations between Greece and the Ottoman Empire were shaped by two concepts: the Eastern Question and the Megali Idea. There were five wars that directly and indirectly linked all conflict, and which saw Greece double its territory that was previously under Ottoman possession.

With the Allies victory in World War I, Greece was rewarded with territorial acquisitions, specifically Western Thrace (Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine) and Eastern Thrace and the Smyrna area (Treaty of Sèvres). Greek gains were largely undone by the subsequent Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922).

Population of Greeks in Asia Minor after the Balkan Wars

Overcrowded boats with refugees fleeing the Great fire of Smyrna. The photo was taken from the launch boat of a US warship.

Greece occupied Smyrna on 15 May 1919, while Mustafa Kemal Pasha (later Atatürk), who was to become the leader of the Turkish opposition to the Treaty of Sèvres, landed in Samsun on May 19, 1919, an action that is regarded as the beginning of the Turkish War of Independence. He united the protesting voices in Anatolia and set in motion a nationalist movement to repel the Allied armies that had occupied the Ottoman Empire and establish new borders for a sovereign Turkish nation. The Turkish nation would be Western in civilization and elevated its Turkish culture (which had faded under Arab culture), which included disassociating Islam from Arab culture and restricted into the private sphere. Having created a separate government in Ankara, Kemal's government did not recognise the Treaty of Sèvres and fought to have it revoked.

On 1 November 1922, the Turkish Parliament in Ankara formally abolished the Sultanate and the Treaty of Lausanne (1923) ended all conflict and replaced previous treaties to constitute modern Turkey. It also provided for a Population exchange between Greece and Turkey, with certain exceptions that would impact the future relations of Greece and Turkey.

There were atrocities and ethnic cleansing by both sides during this period. The war with Greece and the revolutionary Turks saw both sides commit atrocities. The Greek genocide was the systematic killing of the Christian Ottoman Greek population of Anatolia which started before the World War I, continued during the war and its aftermath (1914–1922).

History

Initial relations between Greece and Turkey: 1923–1945

File:AtaturkAndVenizelos.jpg

The first president of Turkey Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (center) hosting Greek Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos (at left) in Ankara October 27, 1930

File:Atatürk, Stojadinović, Metaxas, Comnen. Ankara, March 1938 (Koncern Ilustrowany Kurier Codzienny).png

Kemal Atatürk with Ioannis Metaxas in Ankara, March 1938

The post-war leaders of Turkey and Greece were determined to establish normal relations between the two states and a treaty was concluded. Following the population exchange, Greece no longer wished hostility but negotiations stalled because of the issue of valuations of the properties of the exchanged populations. Driven by Eleftherios Venizelos in co-operation with Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, as well as İsmet İnönü's government, a series of treaties were signed between Greece and Turkey in 1930 which, in effect, restored Greek-Turkish relations and established a de facto alliance between the two countries. As part of these treaties, Greece and Turkey agreed that the Treaty of Lausanne would be the final settlement of their respective borders, while they also pledged that they would not join opposing military or economic alliances and to stop immediately their naval arms race.

The Balkan Pact of 1934 was signed, in which Greece and Turkey joined Yugoslavia and Romania in a treaty of mutual assistance and settled outstanding issues (Bulgaria refused to join). Embassies were constructed as a result. Both leaders recognised the need for peace as it resulted in more friendly relations. Venizelos nominated Atatürk for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1934.

Greece was a signatory to a 1936 agreement that gives Turkey control over the Bosporus and Dardanelles Straits and regulates the transit of naval warships. The nations signed the 1938 Salonika Agreement which abandoned the demilitarised zones along the Turkish border with Greece, a result of the Treaty of Lausanne.

Turkey otherwise followed a course of relative international isolation during the period of Atatürk's Reforms in the 1920s and 1930s. Greece would also be distracted by internal matters when it brought back republican rule with the Second Hellenic Republic from 1924 to 1935 and then fell into military dictatorship between 1936 until 1941. Turkey remained neutral during the Second World War while Greece fell under Axis occupation from 1941 until 1945.

In 1941, due to Turkey's neutrality during the war, Britain lifted the blockade and allowed shipments of grain to come from the Turkey to relieve the great famine in Athens during the Axis occupation. Using the vessel SS Kurtuluş, foodstuffs were collected by a nationwide campaign of Kızılay (Turkish Red Crescent) with the operation funded by the American Greek War Relief Association and the Hellenic Union of Constantinopolitans.

Despite the stabilisation of relations between the nations in this period, the Greek minority that remained in Turkey faced discriminatory targeting.

• The first occasion and in anticipation of WWII in 1941, there was the incident of the Twenty Classes which was the conscription of non-Muslims males who were sent in labour battalions.
• The second, and more destructively in 1942, Turkey imposed the Varlık Vergisi, a special tax, which heavily impacted the non-Muslim minorities of Turkey. Officially, the tax was devised to fill the state treasury that would have been needed had Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union invaded the country. However, the main reason for the tax was to nationalize the Turkish economy by reducing minority populations' influence and control over the country's trade, finance, and industries.

Post World War II relations: 1945–1982

Main articles: Cyprus conflict and Greeks in Turkey § Republic_of_Turkey

Further information: Istanbul pogrom, Cypriot intercommunal violence, and Expulsion of Istanbul Greeks

The early Cold War aligned the international policies of the two countries with the Western Bloc. Following the power vacuum left by the Axis occupation at the end of the war, a Greek Civil War erupted that was one of the first conflicts of the Cold War. It represented the first example of Cold War postwar involvement on the part of the Allies in the internal affairs of a foreign country. Turkey was a focus for the Soviet Union due to foreign control of the straights; it would be a central reason for the outbreak of the Cold War In 1950 both fought alongside each other at the Korean War; in 1952, both countries joined NATO; and in 1953 Greece, Turkey and Yugoslavia formed a new Balkan Pact for mutual defence against the Soviet Union.

Despite this, the think-tank Geopolitical Futures claims three events contributed to the deterioration of bilateral relations after World War II

The Dodecanese islands

Ethnic map of Cyprus in 1973. Gold denotes Greek Cypriots, purple denotes Turkish Cypriot enclaves and red denotes British bases.

6 nautical miles (nmi): Current territorial waters recognized by Greece and Turkey, and airspace as recognized by Turkey

1. The Dodecanese archipelago. By virtue of Italy being defeated in the second world war, the long-standing issue since the Venizelos–Tittoni agreement between Greece and Italy was resolved to Greece's favour in 1946 to Turkey's chagrin as it changed the balance of power. Although Turkey renounced claims to the Dodecanese in the Treaty of Lausanne, future administrations wanted them for security reasons, and possibly due to the Cyprus issue.
2. The decolonization of Cyprus. Conflict broke out between the Greeks and Turks on the island instead of the needed state building process. In the 1950s, the pursuit of enosis became a part of Greece's national policy. Taksim became the slogan by some of the Turkish Cypriots in reaction to enosis. Tensions would increase between Greece and Turkey, and the Cyprus dispute weakened the Greek government of George Papandreou and triggered, in April 1967, a military coup. The junta staged a coup against the Cypriot President and Archbishop Makarios. Soon after, Turkey—using its guarantor status arising from the trilateral accords of the 1959–1960 Zürich and London Agreement—invaded Cyprus and remains to this day on the island.
3. The U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Starting from 1958 and expanded in 1982 for the issue of territorial waters—UNCLOS replaced the older 'freedom of the seas' concept, dating from the 17th century. According to this concept, national rights were limited to a specified belt of water extending from a nation's coast lines, usually 3 nautical miles (5.6 km; 3.5 mi) (three-mile limit). By 1967, only 30 nations still used the old three nautical mile convention. It was ratified by Greece in 1972 but Turkey has not ratified it, asking for a bilateral solution since 1974 which uses the mid-line of the Aegean instead

In 1955, the Adnan Menderes government is believed to have orchestrated the Istanbul pogrom, which targeted the city's substantial Greek ethnic minority. In September 1955 a bomb exploded close to the Turkish consulate in Greece's second-largest city, Thessaloniki, also damaging the Atatürk Museum, site of Atatürk's birthplace. The damage to the house was minimal, with some broken windows. In retaliation, in Istanbul thousands of shops, houses, churches and even graves belonging to members of the ethnic Greek minority were destroyed within a few hours, over a dozen people were killed and many more injured. The ongoing struggle between Turkey and Greece over control of Cyprus, and Cypriot intercommunal violence, formed part of the backdrop to the pogrom. Deflecting domestic attention to Cyprus was politically convenient for the Turkish Menderes government, which was suffering from an ailing economy. Although a minority, the Greek population played a prominent role in the city's business life, making it a convenient scapegoat during the economic crisis in the mid-1950s.

In 1964 Turkish prime minister İsmet İnönü renounced the Greco-Turkish Treaty of Friendship of 1930 and took actions against the Greek minority. An estimated 50,000 Greeks were expelled. A 1971 Turkish law nationalized religious high schools and closed the Halki seminary on Istanbul's Heybeli Island which had trained Greek Orthodox clergy since 1844 and remains to this day an issue in diplomatic relations.

Contemporary history and issues

Greek Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou meeting with Turkish Prime Minister Turgut Özal in Davos, February 1986

In recent decades, relations have become entangled with other nations. However, it's still about who has control over the Aegean Sea and the eastern Mediterranean. Since the 1990s, the countries have pursued a strategy of encircling each other, which has made their conflict expand to other countries—and pulled in the EU. While Cyprus and rights over the Aegean remain unresolved, the discovery of hydrocarbons reframes their disputes. And importance.

In 1986 by the border at the Evros River, a Greek soldier was shot after an offer to trade cigarettes. His death sparked outrage. In 1987, a Turkish survey ship, the Simsik, was ordered to be sunk to the bottom of the Greek waters if it floated too close. It nearly did. In 1995 the uninhabited rock island Imia, where both countries claim jurisdiction, had them close to starting a war.

The problem has grown. Lesser incidents often occur – where both sides exchange fire – which does not help when tensions fly high. Despite this, there has been some progress.

Positive relations

Main article: Greek–Turkish earthquake diplomacy

Abdullah Öcalan, founder of the PKK

In 1995, relations began to change with the Greek election of Kostas Simitis who redefined priorities but it wasn't until the meeting of the foreign ministers the following years that this was noticed. In 1998, the capture of the Kurdish separatist Abdullah Ocalan – on the way from the Greek embassy in Kenya – and the related fallout led to the Greek foreign minister resigning, whose replacement was with a cheer squad member for discussions with Turkey. In 1999, violent earthquakes hit both countries and saw an outpouring of goodwill.

In the years that followed, relations improved. They included agreements on fighting organised crime, reducing military spending, preventing illegal immigration, and clearing land mines on the border. More significantly, Greece lifted its opposition to Turkey's accession to the EU, bringing some Turkish delight. However, even though there was a change to the weather, it did not change the atmosphere on the issues that mattered.

The Aegean conflict

Main article: Aegean dispute

The UN sea treaty UNCLOS evolved in 1982 and came into force in 1994. Turkey is not a signatory. The conflict is whether the Greek islands are allowed a continental shelf, the basis of claiming rights over the sea. Turkey disputes that Greece can claim 12 miles off the coast of their islands, which the sea treaty permits, implying only the mainland has this right. There's a good reason why this definition matters. It would restrict Turkey and give Greece dominant control of the Aegean. The EU requires the sea treaty's membership as a pre-condition. Turkey on the other hand, has made a continental claim to split the Aegean Sea in the middle.

There are several issues at stake based on how this continental shelf is defined. One is protecting Turkey's shipping lanes as the Dardanelles feed into the Aegean (despite international law protecting this). A second is on the rights to mineral wealth (which has yet to be found). A third is on the 1950s flight zone, which impacts the military (a non-issue that was challenged two decades later, after the Cyprus invasion, to match the continental shelf claim by Turkey). Ultimately, fear of sovereignty loss is what's driving this conflict. The Turkish invasion of Cyprus, the Greek reaction with the 1974 militarisation of the Greek islands near Turkey, and the Turkish creation of the 1975 Izmir army base (as large as the entire Greek army itself with amphibious capabilities) has created permanent military tensions.

In recent years, the Blue Homeland policy of Turkey positions it in the Mediterranean as a sea power. Greece's fear, often explicitly communicated by Turkey's politicians in the media, is that Turkey wants to renegotiate borders otherwise determined by international law.

Cyprus and the EU

The self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus has been recognised only by Turkey since its establishment in 1983.

Main articles: Cyprus problem, Accession of Turkey to the European Union, Turkey–European_Union_relations, and Operation Irini

The EU, of which Greece has been a member since 1981, interplay with the relations of Greece and Turkey in three different ways.

The first is through Turkey's accession. Turkey has been a candidate for membership for several decades. For example, in the 1980s after Greece was admitted in the EU, Greece concentrated its diplomatic efforts on barring Turkey's admission to the EU. Concerns about Turkey like its human rights record and Greece's veto ultimately had Turkey side-lined by the EU. Domestically, this contributed to the shift away from Turkey's founding secular doctrine Kemalism and the rise of political Islam. The change was popular in inland Turkey because it adjusted the government's amnesia of the Ottoman Empire's past. It also evolved to an alternate identity of European orientation, as a regional center in the emerging Eurasian political formation.

The second reason is due to the historical issue of Cyprus. The 1990s saw EU accession friction of Cyprus which was parallel to military tension. In 1994, Greece and Cyprus agreed on a security doctrine that would mean any Turkish attempt on Cyprus would cause war for Greece. In 1997 Cyprus purchased two Soviet-era missile systems, the S-300s, resulting in a Turkish uproar; Greece did a swap and installed them on Crete against heavy whimpering. Negotiations never settled the division on the island in the 1990s because of the non-negotiable by the Turkish side to recognise North Cyprus as an independent state. When Cyprus joined the EU in 2002, the negotiation took a different flare. With Greece and Cyprus as EU members, this has become an EU issue; but with the island only 60 miles from Turkey, it also remains a national security issue for Turkey.

The third reason is due to EU policy. Turkey's migrant crisis has also had a big impact on its relationship with the EU. The enforcement of the arms embargo against Libya brought other EU members into conflict with Turkey on Operation Irini. The gas drilling on disputed territory with Greece with the RV MTA Oruç Reis led to EU sanctions

Energy pipelines

The countries have pursued a strategy of encircling each other. Following the breakup of Yugoslavia, both Greece and Turkey viewed each other with suspicion as they developed relations with the new countries. It wasn't until 1995, however, that this fear materialised. Greece formed a defense cooperation agreement with Syria and between 1995 and 1998 established good relations with Turkey's other neighbors, Iran and Armenia. In reaction, Turkey spoke with Israel in 1996, which caused outroar by the Arab countries.

61% of the world's proven gas reserves come from three predominant nations (Russia, Iran, Qatar) and the CIS nations that surround the Caspian Sea.

The 2010 discovery of gas deposits in the eastern Mediterranean first by Israel and then Egypt, has created new energy to fan the disputes. The historical security issues of the Aegean and Cyprus are now a focal point to resolving Europe's energy needs. For example, the 2016 Turkey-Israel reconciliation led to Greece torpedoing the 2017 Cyprus UN talks due to their relationship's risk for developing a gas pipeline. In 2019, the east Mediterranean gas forum was created, including seven countries but excluding Turkey. Turkey would work from 2018 with Libya to extend its economic rights over the sea, which has led to recent tensions with other members of the EU. This instability over the status of the Aegean and Cyprus prevents the needed investment from developing pipelines to Europe.

The region is considered the end-point for east–west pipelines. In 2007, the countries inaugurated the Greek-Turkish natural gas pipeline giving Caspian gas its first direct Western outlet. The Caspian Sea is one of the oldest oil-producing regions: it's estimated to have 48 billion barrels of oil in proven and probable reserves. That's comparable to one year and a bit of global oil consumption. Its estimated 292 trillion cubic feet of natural gas is enough to satisfy two years of global gas consumption. The opening up of these fields is recent after more than 20 years of negotiation following the 2018 A Convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea.

Outside of the Caspian Sea nations, there are other suppliers that wish to leverage the geographical positioning of the nations. Most recently, in May 2022, Greece signed a deal with the UAE for the distribution of its liquefied natural gas, a nation which ranks 7th in the world and 3% of global supply of natural gas.

Minority rights

Main articles: Greeks in Turkey and Turks in Greece

Since the formation of Turkey, minority rights have been an issue. The treaty of Lausanne provided for the protection of the Greek Orthodox Christian minority in Turkey and the Muslim minority in Greece.

Minorities in both countries since have been affected by the state of relations of the nations. They are used as a point of leverage, using the principle of reciprocity. For example, Turkey would put pressure on the Greek minority in Turkey when the Cyprus issue escalated in the 1960s. Turkey put the election of Muftis by the Muslim Turkish minority in Greece as a precondition for opening the Halki Seminary which was closed in 1971. Greece in 1972 as a reaction, closed the Turkish school in Rhodes. Turkey in recent years has used its cultural heritage, such as the Sumela Monastery, in order to achieve specific political ends.

The Theological School of Halki at the top of the Hill of Hope.

Both nations have done their share of unjust actions over the years. Some examples include:

• During world war two, the nationalisation of industry with the Varlık Vergisi that targeted minorities and especially Greeks
• The scapegoating of Greeks due to Turkey's economic problems that resulted in the Istanbul pogrom
• The Greek junta deporting Turkish citizens on the Dodecanese in 1967
• Article 19 of the Nationality Code established in 1955 two classes of Greek citizenship, whereby "non-Greek descent" lost their citizenship if they left the country. By the time of its abolition in 1998, 60,000 people has lost their citizenship and the abolition had no retroactive effect.

In recent years, the main issues are the election of Muftis (currently controlled by Greek authorities) and the reopening of the Halki Seminary. Greece's hesitance could be solved if the Mufti's were stripped of authority of jurisdiction. Turkey's precondition to open the Halki Seminary is considered unnecessary: it's purely a political decision though the Greek government had promised Erdoğan that two Mosques would be built in Athens.

In both cases, and in the words of former Greek prime minister George Papandreou, the respective nations would benefit if they treated the minorities as citizens not foreigners.

Migrants

Main article: Turkey's migrant crisis

Basis for the EU-Turkey Joint Action Plan; Syrian asylum applications highest among all nationalities between 1 January and 30 June 2015

Turkey has become a transit country for people entering Europe. In 2015, the route that passes from Turkey to Greece and then through the Balkan countries became the most used route for migrants escaping conflicts and war in the Middle East and North Africa, while irregular migration from further East continues. Turkey assumed the role of guardian of the Schengen area, protecting it from irregular migration. This, combined with the migrant crisis – has resulted in it being a key issue between Turkey and the EU. People moving across the border of both nations are a common sight and frequent cause of incidents.

In 2016, there was a EU-Turkey deal on migrant crisis. Despite some success with the four-year agreement extended to 2022, there have been several incidents and in 2019 the Greek government warned that a new migrant crisis similar to the previous one will repeat, though this has yet to happen.

Turkish insurgents and asylum seekers

During the 2010 trial for an alleged plot to stage a military coup dating back to 2003, named Sledgehammer, the conspirators were accused of planning attacks on mosques, triggering a conflict with Greece by shooting down one of Turkey's own warplanes and then accusing Greeks of this and planting bombs in Istanbul to pave the way for a military takeover.

Greece over the years has arrested on many occasions members of the DHKP-C who planned attacks in Turkey. Turkey has accused Greece of supporting terrorists such as the DHKP-C.

Turkey has seen a slide to authoritarianism resulting in Turkish refugees becoming more common, like politician Leyla Birlik accused of insulting the president. This is especially since the failed 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt, where 995 people applied for asylum (including military personnel which caused tensions) immediately after and have kept the newsrooms busy More than 1,800 Turkish citizens requested asylum in Greece in 2017, making it a Greek drama as it included those who plotted the assassination Sometimes, this causes tensions between the nations in other areas.

Sports relations

See also: Greece–Turkey football rivalry

• The Greece–Turkey football rivalry is one of Europe's major rivalries between two national teams.
• Çağla Büyükakçay-Maria Sakkari tennis duo of Turkey and Greece respectively won the ITF Circuit finals in Dubai, United Arab Emirates on 14 November 2015 by beating İpek Soylu and Elise Mertens.
• In 2002, Turkey and Greece made an unsuccessful attempt to jointly host the 2008 UEFA European Football Championship. The bid was one of the four candidacies that was recommended to the UEFA Executive Committee, the joint Austria/Switzerland bid winning the right to host the tournament.

Timeline

Year	Date	Event
1923	30 January	Turkey and Greece sign the Convention Concerning the Exchange of Greek and Turkish Populations agreement
	24 July	Treaty of Lausanne is signed. It would come into force 6 August 1924.
1926	26 June	Mahalli Idareler Kanunu (the local government act; no. 1151/1927), concerning the local administration of Imbros and Tenedos was published which stripped the islands of their local governance. This was seen as revoking article 14 of the Treaty of Lausanne; it's argued the provisions were simply never observed in the first place.
1933	14 September	Greece and Turkey sign Pact of Cordial Friendship.
1934	9 February	Greece and Turkey, as well as Romania and Yugoslavia sign the Balkan Pact, a mutual defense treaty.
1938	27 April	Greece and Turkey sign the "Additional Treaty to the Treaty of Friendship, Neutrality, Conciliation and Arbitration of October 30th, 1930, and to the Pact of Cordial Friendship of September 14th, 1933.
1941	6 October	SS Kurtuluş starts carrying first Turkish aid to Greece to alleviate the Great Famine during the Axis occupation of Greece.
1942	11 November	Turkey enacts Varlık Vergisi. Industry was nationalised and targeted the Greek minority
1947	10 February	Despite Turkish objections, the victorious powers of World War II transfer the Dodecanese islands to Greece, through the Treaty of Peace with Italy.
	31 March	Handover ceremony of the Dodecanese to Greece by the British authorities
1950		Greece and Turkey both fight at the Korean War at the side of the UN forces.
1952	18 February	Greece and Turkey officially become members of NATO.
1953	28 February	Balkan Pact (1953) between Greece, Turkey and Yugoslavia
1955	6–7 September	Istanbul pogrom where the Greek population of Istanbul were targetted.
1963	21 December	Bloody Christmas (1963) occurred, which was the beginning of the Cypriot intercommunal violence that brought the Greek and Turkish communities into civil war
1964		Turkish prime minister İsmet İnönü renounced the Greco-Turkish Treaty of Friendship of 1930 and took actions against the Greek minority.
1971		The Halki Theological College, the higher education component of the Halki seminary and the only school where the Greek minority in Turkey used to educate its clergymen, is closed by Turkish authorities. All private, religious or academic, Muslim and non Muslim, were closed that year.
1971-74		Oil is discovered in the north Aegean by the Greek island of Thasos. The first major discovery since exploration started in the mid-1960s.
1974	15 July	The Greek Junta sponsors the 1974 Cypriot coup d'état
	20 July – 18 August	Turkish invasion of Cyprus
1987	27–30 March	1987 Aegean crisis brought both countries very close to war.
1994	7 March	Greek Government declares May 19 as a day of remembrance of the (1914–1923) Genocide of Pontic Greeks.
1995	21 July	Greece ratified the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea Turkey said the exercise of this treaty, if Greece expands its territorial waters to 12 nm, would be casus belli.
	26 December	The Imia-Kardak crisis brought the two countries to the brink of war.
1997	5 January	Cyprus announces purchase of Russian-made surface-to-air missiles, starting Cyprus Missile Crisis. It would resolve in December 1998 when Greece purchased the missiles and positioned them in Crete.
1999		Abdullah Öcalan (Kurdish rebel leader), leaving the Greek embassy, is captured in Kenya and causes a crisis
2001	14 September	Greek Government declares September 14 as a "day of remembrance of the Genocide of the Hellenes of Asia Minor by the Turkish state".

See also

• History of Greece
• History of Turkey
• History of Cyprus
• Hellenoturkism
• Foreign relations of Greece, Turkey, Cyprus and Northern Cyprus
• European Union–Turkey relations
• Greece–Turkey border
• Intermediate Region
• Greeks in Turkey
• Greeks in Middle East
• Turks in Greece
• Turks in Europe

Further reading

• Turkish-Greek Relations: Escaping from the Security Dilemma in the Aegean. Routledge. 2004. ISBN 978-0-203-50191-7. {{cite book}}: Cite uses deprecated parameter |authors= (help)
• Bahcheli, Tozun (1987). Greek-Turkish Relations Since 1955. Westview Press. ISBN 0-8133-7235-6.
• Brewer, David (2003). The Greek War of Independence: The Struggle for Freedom from the Ottoman Oppression and the Birth of the Modern Greek Nation. Overlook Press. ISBN 978-1-84511-504-3.
• Greek-Turkish Relations: In the Era of Globalization. Brassey's Inc. 2001. ISBN 1-57488-312-7. {{cite book}}: Cite uses deprecated parameter |authors= (help)
• Ker-Lindsay, James (2007). Crisis and Conciliation: A Year of Rapprochement between Greece and Turkey. I.B.Tauris. ISBN 978-1-84511-504-3.
• Kinross, Patrick (2003). Atatürk: The Rebirth of a Nation. Phoenix Press. ISBN 1-84212-599-0.
• Smith, Michael L. (1999). Ionian Vision: Greece in Asia Minor, 1919–1922. University of Michigan Press. ISBN 0-472-08569-7.

External links

• Turkish PM on landmark Greek trip
• Greece-Turkey boundary study by Florida State University, College of Law
• Greece's Shifting Position on Turkish Accession to the EU Before and After Helsinki (1999)
• Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs about the relations with Greece
• Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs about the relations with Turkey