It sometimes seems that the nations of Greece and Turkey should take up the poet Robert FrostÆs axiom that ôGood fences make good neighborsö, for the two countries have been continually, if intermittently, at conflict with each other for centuries. At the moment, tensions have relaxed as much as they have during any time in the last quarter-century and it would be all too easy to indulge in a sense of giddy optimism over the state of affairs in this part of the world if one had not seen all of this happen before, only to see the countries once more fall into roles of antagonism. This paper looks at the historical roots of this regional antagonism and at what basis there is for current optimism.
The paper focuses on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, partitioned for the past quarter century between Turks and Greeks. Cyprus remains one of the intransigent spots of the world, one of those places that seems incapable of finding peace in largest measure because the ongoing tensions and ethnic animosities of Turkey and Greece are played out in their most visible way on this island. (These tensions are exacerbated by the fact that, as in the case of nearly every place that has been invaded as often as has the island of Cyprus, the people there long for a sense of both safety and independence, regardless of the personal ties individuals may feel to either Greece or Turkey).
The reasons why Cyprus should find it so hard to find peace has deep historical and cultural roots that may seem incidental or even foolish to the outsider but are deeply important to the citizens of Greece and Turkey û as well as of Cyprus, of course. This paper examines in brief the problems that have existed historically between Greece and Turkey, using the island of Cyprus as both metaphor and examples of those problem, and suggests some ways that the countries might find a more peaceful future as equal members of the global community.
The Greco-Turkish a...