Panel II: Visions and Means to Manage the Political Incompatibilities of Türkiye and Greece

Panel I: Emerging / Shared Concerns and Prerequisites for Türkiye and Greece

New Era in Turkish-Greek Relations? | Pathways for a More Constructive Agenda

In this new volume of SETA Security Radar, we analyze the main dynamics shaping Türkiye’s security and geopolitical landscape with references to the most significant foreign policy and security issues throughout 2022.

Greece, seeking to expand in Aegean, Eastern Mediterranean seas, sacrificed independence as ‘proxy’ state

The U.S. has sent a cache of weapons to Greece, some of which were allocated on the Aegean islands. Thus, the U.S. government has indirectly supported Greece’s breach of international law. According to international treaties, these islands have a demilitarized status.

Hardly anyone is surprised by the Greek public’s concerns over Türkiye in this climate of fear. Such concerns or fears have been at the heart of Greek politics for many years.

‘Samarkand and New York summits have shown Türkiye’s determination of following an independent, diversified and global-scale foreign policy’

The West’s policy of otherization and alienation toward Türkiye, a 70-year NATO member, especially in the regional crises of Syria, EastMed and Karabakh is the result of Ankara’s claim for regional leadership and an autonomous global status

Anti-Turkish policies and narratives by Greek politicians have been consistently increasing during the current Greek government.

Western countries have always supported the oppressors instead of the innocent and unsurprisingly, it is no different when it comes to the Greek violence against Turkish Cypriots

Türkiye emerges as a power that generates stability and security in its neighborhood – Central Asia, the Caucasus, the Balkans, the Middle East, the Gulf and North Africa.

In this collection of essays, we discuss how NATO can overcome strategic challenges and recalibrate the strength of the alliance under the new geopolitical circumstances. The essays in this report focus on NATO’s transformations after the Ukraine war and attempt to understand Türkiye’s foreign policy alternatives within the context of its relations with the West, Russia, and NATO.

This paper consists of two main parts. In the first part, it explains the main priorities that NATO is focusing on by elaborating on the Russian attack on Ukraine, the China challenge, and the changing character of military and non-military threats. In the second part, the paper delivers a framework to make sense of why Türkiye particularly attaches unique significance to some issues. It concludes that Türkiye will continue to support NATO endeavors but the country expects its allies to cooperate on counterterrorism efforts and also expects calibrated and meaningful engagement in Greek-Turkish disagreements.

The NATO allies need to make rational decisions to promote intra-alliance solidarity at the Madrid summit.

This analysis examines the reasons behind Greece’s policy of escalating tension and whether that policy has any legal ground.

Athens must restore the demilitarized status of the islands without further delay – unless it wants its sovereignty over the Eastern Aegean islands to be called into question.