US Mediation in the Greek-Turkish Disputes since 1954

Greece and Turkey emerged from the Second World War as solid members of the Western alliance, their bilateral territorial disputes appearing settled. The conflicts dating back to Ottoman times seemed memories, fading into a new tradition of peace and friendship established in the early 1930s in the historic reconciliation of the powerful and charismatic leaders, Eleftherios Venizelos and Kemal Atatürk.

In the aftermath of the Second World War both had sided with the Western countries, and with their participation in the Western European institutions (the Council of Europe and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization) they became "officially" part of the Western bloc led by the United States against the Eastern bloc of communist states.

In the difficult Cold War environment the three allies seemed to have harmonious relations focusing on the external communist danger coming from the north. This cordial era ended in 1954 with the eruption of the Cyprus problem, a bilateral conflict between Greece and Turkey that persisted into the next decades with the emergence of the Aegean dispute. After the emergence of the Cyprus dispute, both states expected the involvement of the United States, aiding one against the other. The United States to a certain extent unwillingly became the "mediator" between the two states, and this task continues until today.

In this essay I summarize the historical background of Greek-Turkish relations during the interwar years, the political and security challenges the two states faced at the end of the Second World War, and the beginning of the alliance ties among the United States, Greece, and Turkey. I also examine the most serious Cyprus and Aegean crises along with American mediation and solution efforts. The last part is devoted to US involvement in the post–Cold War era.

Greek-Turkish Relations at the End of the Second World War

The settlement reached at Lausanne on 24 July 1923, after the Greek-Turkish war of 1919 to 1922, solved territorial and minority issues and laid the foundations for peaceful relations between Greece and Turkey.¹ Exhausted by many years of wars, both countries faced enormous problems of domestic reconstruction. The two states were prepared to develop good and stable relations and both pursued these goals during the interwar years.

An additional factor in the development of détente between Greece and Turkey, which gained ground in the late 1920s, was a growing perception of common defense interests. While Greece and Turkey still mistrusted each other to some extent, both of them had serious concerns about Bulgaria's ambitions to gain access to the Aegean as well as about Italy's intentions in the eastern Mediterranean.²

In June 1930, Greece and Turkey signed an agreement that settled all the remaining disputes arising out of the exchange of populations and the value of properties left behind. Although the terms of the agreement were criticized in Greece as too favorable to Turkey, Venizelos attached a high priority to a policy of conciliation with the Turks. The mutual understanding between the two countries was further enhanced with the Treaty of Neutrality, Conciliation, and Arbitration as well as with a protocol providing for parity of naval armaments, signed between Venizelos and Izmet Inönü in October 1930.³

In September 1933, the two countries signed a friendship pact guaranteeing the inviolability of their borders and committing them to consult each other on matters of common interest. During the following year, the two countries took another step in collaboration when they joined the Balkan Entente with Yugoslavia and Romania. By joining the Balkan Entente, Greece and Turkey hoped to discourage anticipated pressures from Italy or Germany.⁴ However, neither this nor subsequent bilateral Greek-Turkish agreements deterred Italy and Germany from pursuing their ambitions to penetrate and control the Balkans. In any case, Greece and Turkey were unprepared to undertake obligations that might draw them into war with a Great Power. Thus, when German troops occupied Greece, following the unsuccessful...