Greece and Turkey Despite Many

¶ … Greece and Turkey Despite many commonalitities, Greece and Turkey have been at odds for hundreds of years (Turkey pp). Although many subscribe to the myth of ancient hatred, there is however, a history of conflict that dates back to the entry of Turkish nomads into the Byzantine Empire in the 11th century, the eventual collapse of the Byzantine, the fall of Constantinople in 1453, and the long dominance of the Ottoman Dynasty over Greece and the Eastern Mediterranean islands (Turkey pp).

Throughout history, the strategic location of the small Mediterranean island of Cyprus has been of interest of several states that sought to gain a foothold for Middle East invasions (Meier Pp). Greece gained control of the island in the 13th century B.C. And dominated the island until the Ottoman takeover of 1571, after which Turkish immigrants began to inhabit the island (Meier Pp).

During the fall of the Ottoman Empire in the wake of its war with Russia, the United Kingdom negotiated to become the protecting power over Cyprus and officially gained sovereignty over the island in 1923 under the Treaty of Lausanne, making the island a British Crown Colony until its independence in 1960 (Meier Pp).

Since Greece won its independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1832, relations between Greece and Turkey have been marked by mutual hostility resulting in four wars, the Greco-Turkish War of 1897, the Balkan Wars of 1912-1913, the First World War 1914-1918, and the Greco-Turkish War 1919-1922 (Ottoman pp). When the Greece became independent in 1832, its kingdom consisted only of the Greek mainland south of the a line from Arta to Volos, plus Euboia and the Cyclades (Ottoman pp).

The rest of the Greek-speaking lands, including Crete and the Aegean islands of Epirus, Thessaly, Macedonia and Thrace, remained under Ottoman rule (Ottoman pp). More than a million Greeks also inhabited what is now Turkey, mostly in the Ionian region around Izmir, called Smyrna by the Greeks, and in the Pontic region of the Black Sea coast (Ottoman pp).

During the 19th century Greek politicians were determined to obtain these territories, with Constantinople as its capital, however, the Ottomans were naturally opposed to these plans, referred to as the Great Idea, Megali Idea, and relations between Greece and the Ottoman state were always tense as a result (Ottoman pp). Greek nationalist feelings were aroused by regular nationalist revolts against the Ottoman rule, especially in Crete, which the Ottomans suppressed with considerable brutality (Ottoman pp).

During the Crimean War, 1854-1856, Britain and France restrained Greece from attacking the Ottomans by occupying Piraeus (Ottoman pp). During the Russo-Turkish War of 1877, the Greeks wanted to join in and liberate Greek lands from the Ottomans, but was too poor and weak to take part, however, the Congress of Berlin in 1881 gave Greece most of Thessaly and part of southern Epirus (Ottoman pp).

In 1897 a new revolt in Crete led to the first Greco-Turkish War, yet when the Greeks were unsuccessful in dislodging the Ottomans from the northern border, the war ended in humiliation for Greece and the small loss of territory (Ottoman pp). This war led to a rise of Turkish nationalist sentiment within the Ottoman Empire and worsened the position of the Greeks (Ottoman pp). Young Turkish nationalists seized power in the Ottoman Empire in 1908 with the objective of creating a strong, centrally governed state (Ottoman pp).

The Christian minorities, the Greeks and Armenians, saw their position in the Empire deteriorate, and Crete became once again the flash-point of Greek and Turkish nationalism, leading to the Balkan Wars of 1912-1913, in which Greece, in alliance with Serbia and Bulgaria, seized Crete, the islands, the rest of Thessaly and Epirus, and coastal Macedonia from the Ottomans (Ottoman pp). Greece entered the World War I with the intent of seizing Constantinople and Smyrna, with the encouragement of Britain and France who also promised Cyprus to the Greeks (Ottoman pp).

When the Ottoman Empire collapsed in 1918, the Greeks claimed the lands that the Allies had promised (Ottoman pp). The Treaty of Sevres, 1920, gave Greece eastern Thrace and a large area of western Anatolia around Smyrna, however, this treaty was never legally ratified (Ottoman pp). When the Turks reorganized under Mustafa Kemal (later Kemal Ataturk), who founded a Turkish national army based at Ankara, the Greeks were unable to defend these territories (Ottoman pp).

During the second Greco-Turkish War, known to the Turks as the War of Turkish Independence, the Greeks were routed, and when the Turks captured Izmir on September 9, 1922, those Greeks who could not escape by sea were massacred (Ottoman pp). There was a violent reaction against the Greek communities throughout the new Republic of Turkey and thousands on both sides were killed in the ethnic conflict which ended with the Treaty of Lausanne of 1923 (Ottoman pp).

The Treaty provided for the exchange of Greek and Turkish populations: approximately a million Greeks left Turkey for Greece and about half a million Turks left Greece for Turkey (Ottoman pp). Exceptions to the population exchange included Istanbul, where the Greek minority was allowed to stay and the eastern part of Greek Thrace whose Turkish minority was also allowed to stay, however, this only created a basis for future conflicts (Ottoman pp).

Some Greeks refer to this exchange as the 'Pontian genocide,' or the 'Hellenic Holocaust,' although the Turks did not in fact try to exterminate the Greeks as they had tried to exterminate the Armenians during the World War (Ottoman pp). The intent of the exchange was to ease tensions between the two countries over the minorities living in hostile populations, yet the relocation has damaged all people involved (Ottoman pp).

After years of negotiations, a treaty was concluded in 1930 and Greece renounced all claims to Turkish territory, followed by the Balkan Pact of 1934, in which Greece and Turkey joined the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Romania and Albania in a treaty of mutual assistance and settle outstanding issues (Ottoman pp). Now the main issue in Turkish-Greek relations was Cyprus, a British protectorate whose population was 80% Greek and 20% Turkish (Ottoman pp).

Although the Greek Cypriots wanted unity with Greece, the Turks opposed, desiring the British to stay indefinitely, thus, Greece was forced by its financial and diplomatic dependence on Britain to disavow any desire for unification with Cyprus (Ottoman pp). During World War II, Nazi Germany occupied Greece, while Turkey remained neutral, leading many Greeks to flee to Turkey as refugees (Ottoman pp). After the war, Greece and Turkey joined NATO and in 1954, Greece, Turkey and Yugoslavia formed a new Balkan Pact for mutual defense against the Soviet Union (Ottoman pp).

In the 1950's when Greek Cypriots again demanded union with Greece, Prime Minister Alexander Papgos took the Cyprus issue to the United Nations (Ottoman pp). Turkish nationalists became upset at the idea and anti-Greek riots broke out in Istanbul and Izmir, killing many Greeks and making many more refugees (Ottoman pp). This led Greece to withdraw all co-operation with Turkey and the Balkan Pact collapsed (Ottoman pp).

A compromise was reached in 1960 in which Cyprus became independent, with a constitution guaranteeing a Greek president and a Turkish vice-president, with both Greek and Turkish troops stationed on the island to protect the respective communities (Ottoman pp). In 1964 when the President of Cyprus tried to revise the 1960 constitution and unify with Greece, the Turks bombed Greek troops on the island, and again many Greeks.