Peaceworks 17

Greek-Turkish Relations and U.S. Foreign Policy
Cyprus, the Aegean, and Regional Stability

Tozun Bahcheli
Theodore A. Couloumbis
Patricia Carley

The United States Institute of Peace convened a workshop in Washington in summer 1996 that brought together Institute senior fellows, policy-oriented academics, and government officials responsible for various aspects of U.S. policy in Greece and Turkey. The goals of the workshop were decidedly forward looking. As with many protracted conflicts, the parties' search for recognition of their grievances and their right to present them to the international community must be acknowledged as the first step in a constructive dialogue. In consultation with senior fellows Theodore A. Couloumbis and Tozun Bahcheli, Institute staff in the Jennings Randolph Fellowship Program and the Research and Studies Program selected participants who could best identify possible areas of cooperation and collaboration and specific strategies of de-escalation, reconciliation, and resolution that might serve as the basis for a new era in Greek-Turkish relations. The insights and creative proposals of the participants are summarized in this report, written by Patricia Carley, program officer in the Institute's Research and Studies Program.

Tozun Bahcheli is professor of political science at King's College in London, Ontario, where he teaches courses in international, Middle Eastern, and Balkan politics. Professor Bahcheli was a senior fellow with the Jennings Randolph Program of the United States Institute of Peace during 1995–96. Over the past twenty years, he has conducted research and written on Turkish foreign policy, the Cyprus conflict, and other Greek-Turkish issues. His articles have appeared in various journals, and his book Greek-Turkish Relations Since 1955 was published by Westview Press in 1990.

Patricia Carley is program officer for the former Soviet Union and Turkey at the United States Institute of Peace, where she also works on broader issues such as the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and Western relations with the Islamic world. She is the author of several Institute publications, including The War in Tajikistan Three Years On, Turkey's Role in the Middle East: A Conference Report, and The Future of the CSCE. She received her B.A. in Soviet studies from the University of Texas at Austin in 1981 and an M.A. from George Washington University in 1983.

Theodore A. Couloumbis is professor of international relations at the University of Athens and was a senior fellow with the Jennings Randolph Program of the United States Institute of Peace during 1995–96. Couloumbis's work focuses on conflict resolution in the post–Cold War international setting.

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