The impact of the European Union and NATO on Greek-Turkish Relations since 1987


Doç. Dr. Fulya MEMİŞOĞLU ZAİMOĞLU

Tez Türü: Yüksek Lisans

Tezin Yürütüldüğü Kurum: The University of Warwick, Uluslararası İlişkiler, Uluslararası İlişkiler, Birleşik Krallık

Tez Danışmanı: David Carlton

Tezin Onay Tarihi: 2004

Tezin Dili: İngilizce

Özet:

The purpose of this paper is to provide a perspective on the role of institutions in inter-state

relations. As a matter of fact, it deals with the impact of the European Union (EU) and North

Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) on Greco-Turkish relations since 1987. With the end of

the Cold War there have been significant changes within the global system in which statecentric

approaches were highly challenged by growing influence of the institutions. Pluralistic

approaches, on the other hand, see institutions as the mediator and the means to achieve

cooperation in the international system. Institutions by linking issue areas may promote

cooperation in a stable environment; however, in the presence of a conflict between its

members, institutions can easily become ‘the object of struggle’ rather than ‘the object of

cooperation’. On the other hand, institutions i.e., the EU and NATO have a significant impact

on defusing tensions in the aftermath of Greco-Turkish crises during 1990s. The realist

institutionalism approach provides the theoretical framework to highlight these multiple,

contradictory effects of the institutions on inter-state relations and Greco-Turkish relations

present an intriguing case study to undertake this task.

The format of this paper is as follows. The first chapter presents a general overview of Greco-

Turkish relations since 1987 by analysing the changing role of institutions in the post-Cold

War era in order to underpin the multiple effects of the EU and NATO on the transition of

Greco-Turkish relations from conflict to cooperation. The second chapter gives a more

detailed account on the impact of the EU and NATO by focusing on the Cyprus dispute

between Greece and Turkey. The third chapter deals with the involvement of the EU and

NATO the dispute between Greece and Turkey over the Aegean Sea. Two critical sources of

conflict over the Aegean Sea are presented here, namely delimitation of the continental shelf

and the breadth of the territorial sea.