Greek policies towards Turkey within the EU framework

Abstract

This thesis examines Greek policies towards Turkey with an emphasis on the effect of Greece’s membership to the European Union. The research question is how EC/EU membership was used by Greece in the bilateral relations with Turkey. The focus period is from Greece’s gaining of membership status in 1981 until the Helsinki Summit in 1999, where Turkey was granted candidate status for EU membership. For a thorough understanding of the period, the period by the end of the Second World War until 1981 is also examined in terms of Greek foreign and defense policies, Greece-EC relations and relations with Turkey. This work represents the usage of EU membership by Greece as a bargaining power in its relations with Turkey for solution of the disputes.