Regional Conflicts

Turkey has had long-standing conflicts with several of its neighbors, most notably Armenia and Greece. In 1915 and 1916, Turks who wished to preserve the faltering Ottoman Empire decided to rid Anatolia of foreign influences. The Armenian community within the empire became a primary target of this campaign. It is estimated that up to one million Armenians were killed or deported. The Turkish government's official policy has been to refute Armenian claims of genocide. It accepts no moral responsibility for massive Armenian deaths during the period.

In addition, Armenia, which gained its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, blocks Turkish access to Azerbaijan, with which it shares close linguistic ties. Given the simmering hostility between Turkey and Armenia, it is not surprising that Armenia is the only former Soviet state that has no formal relations with Turkey. In late 1997 the Turkish government indicated that it was ready to establish diplomatic relations with Armenia, provided that Armenia resolve its own territorial dispute with Azerbaijan.

Turkey and Greece have serious differences over control of the Aegean Sea, the narrow arm of the Mediterranean Sea that separates the east coast of Greece from the west coast of Anatolia. Despite their protestations to the contrary and occasional, halfhearted attempts at reconciliation, Greece and Turkey remain bitter enemies. Some observers foresee a future in which Greece and Turkey may be drawn into a new Balkan War, since the Greeks sympathize with the Serbs and the Turks sympathize with the Albanian and Bosnian Muslim antagonists of the Serbs.

Greece retains bitter memories of its control by the Ottoman Empire, which was responsible for damaging Athens's ancient Parthenon during the seventeenth century. Greece did not attain its status as a modern nation until 1830, when the first kingdom of Greece was formed. At that time, the declining Ottoman Empire was forced to relinquish control of Greece. Memories of past wrongs stimulate current confrontations and may stimulate future conflict.

Greece and Turkey have already come close to armed conflict in the Aegean Sea. Turkey has declared that if Greece extends its territorial waters from six to twelve miles offshore, Turkey will consider this a justification for war. Other disputes between the two countries include Greek claims to airspace and Greek fortification of its Aegean islands. The Turkish government will not allow the Aegean to became a totally Greek sea.

Disasters finally brought some improvement to Greek-Turkish relations in 1999. On August 17 and November 12 of that year, Turkey was struck by severe earthquakes and other countries, including Greece, contributed to disaster relief. On September 7, less than a month after Turkey's first earthquake, an earthquake shook Greece and Turkey helped with that nation's disaster relief. In November, 2001, the two countries took another important step toward resolving their differences when their representatives signed an agreement for the return of illegal immigrants from Greece to Turkey.