Greeks and Turks have much in common culturally, yet share a troubled past. Both sides would suffer if the conflict over gas reserves in the Mediterranean were to escalate further.
My grandmother used to live in the northern Greek city of Ioannina. She was a wonderful woman, who loved me dearly and enjoyed cooking for me. But whenever I wanted to head outside to play football instead of finishing my lunch, she would tell me to eat up — or else the Turks would kidnap me. Maybe this strange threat explains why I have been a bit overweight much my life.
It was years later when I understood the historical backstory to grandmothers threat. The city of Ioannina had, until the early 20th century, belonged to the Ottoman Empire. It was only after the Balkan Wars in 1913 that the city became Greek. My grandmother had been a citizen — or rather subservient subject — of the Ottoman Empire.
With growing resentment towards this state of affairs, the Greeks staged an uprising against the Ottomans. Not only was the rebellion successful, but it also became part of the foundational myth of the modern Greek nation.
Most nations embellish how the country was founded until it stretches into myth. Yet foundational myths are just that: myths. They tend to downplay ones wrongdoings while highlighting ones achievements. The same can be said for the myth surrounding the foundation of the Turkish Republic in 1923, and the establishment of the German Empire in 1871. Not to mention the Swiss case, which incorporated folktale hero marksman William Tell into their foundational myth.
Greece and Turkey have a long complicated history that has bred distrust and animosity between the two nations for centuries. Though they are allies as members of NATO, tensions still run high due to unresolved territorial and cultural disputes. Understanding the roots of the Greco-Turkish rivalry provides insight into one of the most enduring geopolitical conflicts in Europe.
Ottoman Rule Creates Divisions
Much of the tension originates during the Ottoman Empire’s 600-year occupation of Greece starting in the 15th century. The Greeks saw the Ottoman Turks as oppressive rulers who threatened their culture religion and identity. Nationalist sentiments grew as the Greeks fought for independence in the 19th century finally succeeding in 1832. This planted the seeds for future conflict between the fledgling Greek state and its former overlords.
The Megali Idea Fuels Irredentism
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Greece was consumed by the Megali Idea – the vision of reclaiming all historically Greek lands in the Mediterranean. This prompted Greece to fight the Ottomans repeatedly in pursuit of territorial expansion into areas like Crete, Macedonia and western Anatolia The Ottomans saw this as Greek aggression, brewing Turkish resentment.
Population Exchanges Cause Suffering
After Greece’s failed invasion of Anatolia in 1922, the Lausanne Treaty ordained a mass population exchange. 1.5 million Christian Greeks in Turkey were uprooted and sent to Greece, while half a million Muslim Turks in Greece were displaced to Turkey. This traumatic separation left scars of suffering, bitterness and vengefulness on both sides.
Cyprus Ruptures Relations
The island of Cyprus became an apple of discord when Greece pushed for enosis (union with Greece) while Turkey demanded taksim (partition). Conflict erupted in 1974 when Greece backed a coup in Cyprus, prompting Turkey to invade the north. The island remains divided between Greek and Turkish sectors to this day, frustrating relations.
Aegean Sea Disputes Increase Tensions
The two countries quarrel over territorial waters and airspace in the Aegean Sea, where hundreds of Greek islands dot the waters close to Turkey’s coastline. Greece claims rights over its islands’ waters per the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, angering Turkey which argues this essentially makes the Aegean a “Greek lake”.
EU Exacerbates Divisions
Greece has hindered Turkey’s efforts to join the EU, seeing it as a rival. Turkey blames Greece for distorting EU opposition as a religious clash between Christian Europe and Muslim Turkey. This filters into political disputes, like immigration control in the Aegean. Greece condemns Turkey for sending refugees into Europe.
Bloody History Breeds Distrust
Centuries of conquests, rebellions, forced population exchanges, and episodes of ethnic cleansing have ingrained hostility between Greeks and Turks. Past violence – like the Greek genocide and the Istanbul pogroms – is remembered, spurring prejudice and demonization of the other.
Rivalry for Regional Dominance
As historic powers in the Mediterranean, Greece and Turkey have a strong rivalry for influence. This breeds mistrust, as partnerships with other regional players are seen as threatening encirclement. Greece’s ties with Cyprus, Egypt and Armenia have raised Turkish suspicions.
Energy Competition in the Mediterranean
Competition over gas reserves in the eastern Mediterranean is a new fault line, as Greece and Turkey jockey for control over drilling rights and pipeline routes. Turkey’s aggressive energy exploration around Cyprus draws Greek condemnation. This struggle for energy assets adds fuel to the fire.
While cultural misunderstandings and sweeping generalizations often wrongly stereotype Greeks and Turks today, the numerous unhealed historical wounds continue entangling the two nations in a spiraling rivalry. With conflicting maritime claims, energy ambitions and relations with neighbours, finding common ground remains an immense challenge.
Saber-rattling is not the answer
And let us be courageous. Even Former Greek Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos and former Turkish President Kemal Atatürk — two bitter enemies — managed to come together to discuss the possibility of a Turkish-Greek Confederation in the eastern Mediterranean.
While this idea has little chance of becoming reality due to Turkish fears of seeing its territory divided, it holds more promise than saber-rattling.
Working on peaceful co-existence requires skillful lawmakers, rather than fervent nationalist. Along with a well-informed Greek and Turkish citizenry willing to speak up.
Myth vs. historical fact
According to the Greek foundational myth, brave, outnumbered Greeks — supported by the Orthodox Church — faced down and defeated the Turks. While it is true that the Greeks won against the Turks and gained independence, they did have significant outside help. Without the defeat of the Ottoman–Egyptian fleet by the French, English and Russians in the 1827 Battle of Navarino, for example, independence would have been hard to attain.
Maybe this explains why Turkish lawmakers still to this today feel the West is being overprotective of Greece. Athens, meanwhile, regards Turkey as spoilt by the West in the sense that it keeps receiving NATO arms, sits by as Ankara backs the breakaway northern third of Cyprus, and tolerates fervent nationalists in government. On top of this, Turkey finds itself at loggerheads with NATO member Greece over gas reserves in the eastern Mediterranean.
With military escort: The Turkish research vessel Oruc Reis on its way to the eastern Mediterranean: picture-alliance/AA/Ministry of National Defense
It is commonly claimed that while ordinary Greeks and Turks want to live together peacefully, politicians are the ones who continue stoking tensions. I am not sure this is entirely accurate. Still, I know that Greeks and Turks have much in common — be that music, cuisine, humor, or even a shared sense of Weltschmerz.
The widely praised film A Touch of Spice by Greek director Tassos Boulmetis details one particularly difficult chapter in Greek-Turkish history. It tells the fictional story of Fanis, a Greek man, who is forced out of the Turkish city of Istanbul in the 1960s in the lead up to the Cyprus crisis. In Athens, however, Fanis is rejected by his fellow countrymen, and labeled a Turk.
The film shows how international politics can turn the lives of ordinary individuals on their heads — while a silent majority looks on, saddened but without the impetus to speak up. A Touch of Spice was praised in Greece as a deeply emotional movie that leaves viewers with a sense of both yearning and sadness for the past.
The Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, once an Orthodox church, is now a mosque: picture-alliance/AA/S. Zeki Fazlioglu
During the 1970s — when Greece was still governed by a military junta — many Greeks would sing a song about two friends, Yannis and Mehmet, who discuss philosophy over wine in Istanbul. In the song, Mehmet says that while he believes in Allah, and Yannis in a Christian god, both feel the same hurt. When Athens backs the military coup in Cyprus, which sees Turkey respond by invading the northern part of the island — Yannis and Mehmet have nothing more to say to each other.
Although both nations have much in common culturally, this has not been reflected in both countries recent history. Greek-Turkish relations should be governed by rational decision-making, so our mutual admiration can flourish. Yet another military conflict between both sides would be to of detriment to us all.
Read more: EU to consider sanctions on Turkey over Mediterranean gas drilling
The “Green Line” in Nicosia separates the Republic of Cyprus from the breakaway Turkish Cypriot north: Loukianos liritsas/DW
Why Do Turkey and Greece Hate Each Other
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