On March 29, 30 2002, The Karamanlis Chair and IFPA will host a Conference on Current Developments in Greek-Turkish Relations at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. The Conference will provide an opportunity for members of the Greek-Turkish Forum (GTF) to air their views in public for the first time. The Greek Turkish Forum consists of a group of distinguished diplomats, journalists and academics from Greece and Turkey who hold private meetings regularly and discuss the problems that bedevil relations between the two countries.

Southeastern Europe, in particular the Balkans, has been in turmoil during most of the 1990s. Two countries in the region, Greece and Turkey, have a long history of disputes, which have often escalated to a threat of force. Since the two countries are by far the strongest in the Southeastern Europe, war between the two would devastate the region and jeopardize the existence of NATO. It is promising, for the stability of the region, that since the second half of the 1999, Greek-Turkish relations entered a phase of détente. 

Although the current period of negotiations remains tenuous, positive and promising developments have been made possible by a new geostrategic environment, as well as institutional and cultural changes within the two countries. Indeed, this period of rapprochement has been facilitated by external factors, including the end of the Cold War, the process of European integration as well as the growing globalization of economic interests. In particular,  the Cypriot candidacy to the European Union and the prospect of Turkish membership to the EU, has integrated the question of the future relations between the two countries in the European agenda. At the same time, the role of the United States in the region cannot be underestimated, given that the three countries are allies under NATO. Most significantly, domestic developments that include an emerging civil society, a vibrant media, growing private sector, have given foreign policy-makers a new context of negotiations between the two countries.

A preliminary schedule of the Conference, to take place at the ASEAN auditorium, is attached below:

Conference Participants

The event has been made possible thanks to the generous support of the A. Leventis Foundation, Prof. Leila Fawaz, Director the Fares Center for Eastern Mediterranean Studies, the Kokkalis Foundation, George Chryssis, Peter Bassett, Michael Tourkistas and Prof. Andrew C. Hess, Director of Program of Southwest Asia and Turkish Studies.