Managing a conflict between allies: United States policy towards Greece and Turkey in relation to the Aegean dispute, 1974–76

Abstract

The central argument of this article is that although national interests, as perceived in Greece and Turkey in the 1970s, took priority over loyalty to the Atlantic Alliance, Cold War considerations retained a certain degree of validity in their strategic thinking. Although participation in NATO did not prevent the outbreak of crises between the two allies, the US and NATO connections actually functioned as a useful framework for the prevention of escalation of this controversy to war and the establishment of a sort of equilibrium in the determination and crystallization of which Washington was able to play a crucial role.

Notes

Sotiris Rizas is Director of Research at the Research Centre for Neohellenic History/Academy of Athens. He has written (in Greek) on the Cyprus question in the 1960s and 1970s. He is working currently on Greece's policy towards NATO and the European Community in the 1970s and Greek–Turkish relations concerning the Aegean.

 [1] See Iatrides, ‘NATO and Aegean Disputes’.

 [2] Stearns, Entangled Allies.

 [3] Cuniholm, The Origins of the Cold War in the Near East ; Athanassopoulou, Turkey. Anglo-American Security Interests; Roubatis, Tangled Webs, 91–112.

 [4] Bahcheli, Greek–Turkish Relations since 1955, 95.

 [5] Ioannides outlined his thinking on Greek–Turkish relations to the US Defense Attaché Office in Athens and this was transmitted to Washington. See Foreign Relations of the United States (hereafter FRUS) 1969–1976, XXX, 69–70, H. Tasca (US Embassy Athens) to State Department, 14 June 1974.

 [6] Bahcheli, Greek–Turkish Relations since 1955, 96; Couloumbis, The United States, Greece and Turkey, 89–90.

 [7] See Coufoudakis, ‘Greek–Turkish Relations, 1973–1983’, 185–6.

 [8] The best analysis of the Aegean dispute at this early stage can be found in Wilson, ‘The Aegean Dispute’.

 [9] National Archives of the United Kingdom (hereafter NAUK), Foreign Commonwealth Office records 9 (hereafter FCO 9) 1727, British Embassy Athens to Foreign Commonwealth Office, 17 May and 28 June 1973, British Embassy Ankara to Foreign Commonwealth Office 15 and 26 June 1973.

[10] Alexandris, The Greek Minority of Istanbul and Greek–Turkish Relations; Bahcheli, Greek–Turkish Relations since 1955, 169–87; Couloumbis, The United States, Greece and Turkey, 123–4.

[11] For a detailed account and analysis of the Turkish position see Bolukbasi, Turkey and Greece: The Aegean Disputes.

[12] On the territorial settlement of 1923 see Psomiades, The Eastern Question: The Last Phase.

[13] NAUK, Foreign Office records 371 (hereafter FO 371) 180024, CE 1201/1, Brigadier W. C.G. Roberts (British Military Attache/Athens): Annual Report on the Hellenic Army – 1964, 30 January 1965.

[14] FRUS 1948, IV, 116–17, The Secretary of State to the US Embassy Athens, 29 July 1948, and NAUK, FO 371/185673, CE 1201/4, minute by K.M. Thomas (Library Department/Foreign Office): ‘Militarisation of the Dodecanese and other Aegean Islands’, 4 March 1966.

[15] See the memorandum of the minister of defence Evangelos Averoff to prime minister Constantinos Caramanlis, 30 November 1974, Svolopoulos, Constantinos Caramanlis, vol. 8, 248–9.

[16] Roubatis, Tangled Webs; Coufoudakis, ‘Greek–Turkish Relations, 1973–1983’.

[17] Couloumbis and Iatrides, Greek–American Relations. On Greek politics see Featherstone and Katsoudas, Political Change in Greece.

[18] For a study on the shift in Greek security perceptions see Veremis, Greek Security Considerations. On Greek security perceptions during the early Cold War phase and the transition to the detente era see Hatzivassiliou, Greece and the Cold War.

[19] For the imposition of the embargo see Franck and Weisband, Foreign Policy by Congress, 35–46.

[20] FRUS 1969–1976, XXX, 704, 709, Interagency Intelligence Memorandum: ‘Turkey after the US Arms Cutoff’, 21 February 1975.

[21] C. Caramanlis' note in Svolopoulos, Constantinos Caramanlis, vol. 9, 32.

[22] Couloumbis, ‘Caramanlis kai Papandreou’, 5–34.

[23] See Sezer, ‘Turkey's Security Policies’, 43–89; and FRUS 1969–1976, XXX, 710, Interagency Intelligence Memorandum: ‘Turkey after the US Arms Cutoff’, 21 February 1975. On Turkey's political context seen from a historical perspective see Ahmad, The Making of Modern Turkey. On the Turkish army's role in politics see Hale, Turkish Politics and the Military.

[24] NAUK, FCO 9/2126, H.H.M. Marston (Defence and Military Attache/British Embassy Ankara) to A.E. Shefferd (Ministry of Defence), 8 February 1974, H.H.M. Marston (Defence and Military Attache/British Embassy Ankara) to R.K. Collins (JIS (NE) Headquarters British Forces Near East), 15 February 1974, H.H.M. Marston (Defence and Military Attaché/British Embassy Ankara) to A.E. Shefferd (Ministry of Defence), 9 April 1974.

[25] In June 1964 President Johnson prevented Turkey from landing an army in Cyprus by a harsh letter which indicated that the NATO guarantee would not be applied in case of a Soviet move against Turkey as the allies were not consulted in advance of a Turkish move with Cold War implications. The Johnson letter came as a shock to the Turkish political elite for it questioned the validity of the US and NATO guarantee which served as the basis of Turkish foreign policy. Hale, Turkish Foreign Policy 1774–2000, 149–51.

[26] For studies of Greek–Turkish relations which clarify traditional perceptions of antagonism and enmity see Veremis, Greeks and Turks in War and Peace; and Ozkirimli and Sofos, Tormented by History.

[27] FRUS 1969–1976, XXX, 149, memorandum D. Clift (National Security Council Staff) to H. Kissinger, 10 April 1975.

[28] FRUS 1969–1976, XXX, 146–7, Memorandum W.E. Colby (CIA Director) to H. Kissinger, 4 April 1975.

[29] FRUS 1969–1976, XXX, 128–9, Defense Intelligence Agency Intelligence Appraisal, 5 February 1975.

[30] NAUK, FCO 9/2231, Record of a Conversation between the Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary and the American Secretary of State at the Department of State at 16.45 hours on Thursday 30 January.

[31] NAUK, FCO 9/2232,Briefing Paper EUR – Arthur Hartman to Henry Kissinger, ‘Greece–Turkey: The Aegean Dispute’, 8 February 1975.

[32] State Department Central Foreign Policy Files (hereafter SDCFP), 1974, Archival Access Database, www.nara.gov, State Department to US Embassies Athens and Ankara, no. 46773, 9 May 1974,. On joint exploitation see FRUS 1969–1976, XXX, 128, Defense Intelligence Agency Intelligence Appraisal, 5 February 1975.

[33] NAUK, FCO 9/2011, H.H.M. Marston (Defence and Military Attaché/British Embassy Ankara) to A.E. Shepherd (Ministry of Defence), June 1974, and Dimitri Kosmadopoulos (Greek ambassador Ankara), 12 September 1975, Odoiporiko enos presby stin Angyra [An ambassador's passage from Ankara], 258–9; Coufoudakis, ‘Greek–Turkish Relations, 1973–1983’.

[34] Kissinger, Years of Renewal, 199.

[35] A general account of UN effort to resolve the Cyprus question can be found in Richmond, Mediating in Cyprus.

[36] Gerald Ford Presidential Library, National Security Adviser records, box 10, folder Greece (5), Memorandum Clift to Brent Scowcroft (National Security Adviser), 6 April 1976.

[37] Gerald Ford Presidential Library, National Security Adviser records, box 10, folder Greece (5), Memorandum Clift to Brent Scowcroft (National Security Adviser), 6 April, box 34, folder Turkey (15), Memorandum Brent Scowcroft (National Security Adviser) to Dick Cheney (Secretary of Defence), 26 March 1976.

[38] Hale, Turkish Foreign Policy 1774–2000, 160–61.

[39] Ahmad, The Making of Modern Turkey, 176–80.

[40] Kissinger, Years of Renewal, 225.

[41] Gerald Ford Presidential Library, National Security Adviser records, box 10, folder Greece: State Department telegrams from Secretary of State–NODIS (4), State Department to US Embassies Athens, Ankara and Nicosia, 2 April 1976.

[42] Gerald Ford Presidential Library, National Security Adviser records, box 10, folder Greece: State Department telegrams from Secretary of State–NODIS (4), State Department to US Embassies Athens, Ankara and Nicosia, 2 April, box 11, folder Greece: State Department telegrams to Secretary of State–NODIS (12), US Embassy Athens to State Department, 5 April 1976.

[43] Gerald Ford Presidential Library, National Security Adviser records, box 10, folder Greece: State Department telegrams from Secretary of State–NODIS (4), State Department to US Embassies Athens, Ankara and Nicosia, 2 April, box 11, folder Greece: State Department telegrams to Secretary of State–NODIS (12), US Embassy Athens to State Department, 7 April 1976.

[44] Gerald Ford Presidential Library, National Security Adviser records, box 10, folder Greece: State Department telegrams from Secretary of State–NODIS (4), State Department to US Embassies Athens, Ankara and Nicosia, 2 April, box 10, folder Greece: State Department telegrams from Secretary of State–NODIS (4), State Department to US Embassy Athens, 7 April 1976. The Greek side insisted, for domestic political reasons, that the point covering Greek armed forces' earmarking for NATO purposes should be kept secret in a paper separate from that on the framework agreement. Ibid., box 10, folder Greece: State Department telegrams from Secretary of State–NODIS (4), State Department to US Embassy Athens, 8 April 1976.

[45] Gerald Ford Presidential Library, National Security Adviser records, box 10, folder Greece: State Department telegrams from Secretary of State–NODIS (4), State Department to US Embassies Athens, Ankara and Nicosia, 2 April, box 10, folder Greece: State Department telegrams from Secretary of State–NODIS (4), State Department to US Embassy Athens, 9 April 1976, no. 120316.

[46] Gerald Ford Presidential Library, National Security Adviser records, box 10, folder Greece: State Department telegrams from Secretary of State–NODIS (4), State Department to US Embassies Athens, Ankara and Nicosia, 2 April, box 10, folder Greece: State Department telegrams from Secretary of State–NODIS (4), State Department to US Embassy Athens, 9 April 1976, no. 119323.

[47] Gerald Ford Presidential Library, National Security Adviser records, box 10, folder Greece: State Department telegrams from Secretary of State–NODIS (4), State Department to US Embassies Athens, Ankara and Nicosia, 2 April, box 35, folder: Turkey: State Department telegrams to Secretary of State–NODIS (12), US Embassy Ankara to State Department, 9 April 1976.

[48] Gerald Ford Presidential Library, National Security Adviser records, box 10, folder Greece: State Department telegrams from Secretary of State–NODIS (4), State Department to US Embassies Athens, Ankara and Nicosia, 2 April, box 35, folder: Turkey: State Department telegrams to Secretary of State–NODIS (12), US Embassy Ankara to State Department, 13 April 1976, no. 2892.

[49] Gerald Ford Presidential Library, National Security Adviser records, box 10, folder Greece: State Department telegrams from Secretary of State–NODIS (4), State Department to US Embassies Athens, Ankara and Nicosia, 2 April, box 34, folder Turkey: State Department telegrams from Secretary of State–NODIS (7), State Department to US Embassy Ankara, 14 April 1976.

[50] Gerald Ford Presidential Library, National Security Adviser records, box 10, folder Greece: State Department telegrams from Secretary of State–NODIS (4), State Department to US Embassies Athens, Ankara and Nicosia, 2 April, box 35, folder: Turkey: State Department telegrams to Secretary of State–NODIS (12), US Embassy Ankara to State Department, 15 April 1976.

[51] Gerald Ford Presidential Library, National Security Adviser records, box 10, folder Greece: State Department telegrams from Secretary of State–NODIS (4), State Department to US Embassies Athens, Ankara and Nicosia, 2 April, box 35, folder: Turkey: State Department telegrams to Secretary of State–NODIS (12), US Embassy Ankara to State Department, 14 April 1976.

[52] Gerald Ford Presidential Library, National Security Adviser records, box 10, folder Greece: State Department telegrams from Secretary of State–NODIS (4), State Department to US Embassies Athens, Ankara and Nicosia, 2 April, box 34, folder Turkey: State Department telegrams from Secretary of State–NODIS (7), State Department to US Embassy Ankara, 16 April 1976, National Security Adviser records, box 34, folder Turkey: State Department telegrams from Secretary of State–NODIS (7).

[53] Kissinger to Bitsios, 10 April 1976 in Svolopoulos, Constantinos Caramanlis, vol. 9, 184, 186

[54] For the text of principles see Svolopoulos, Constantinos Caramanlis, vol. 9, 188.

[55] Steven Roberts, ‘Parley on Cyprus is near collapse’, New York Times 15 April 1976.

[56] Gerald Ford Presidential Library, National Security Adviser records, box 34, folder: Turkey: State Department telegrams to Secretary of State–EXDIS (3), US Embassy Ankara to State Department, 17 May 1976.

[57] Gerald Ford Presidential Library, National Security Adviser records, box 34, folder: Turkey: State Department telegrams to Secretary of State–EXDIS (3), US Embassy Ankara to State Department, 17 May, box 11, folder Greece: State Department telegrams to Secretary of State–NODIS (13), US Embassy Athens to State Department, 9 July 1976.

[58] Gerald Ford Presidential Library, National Security Adviser records, box 34, folder: Turkey: State Department telegrams to Secretary of State–EXDIS (3), US Embassy Ankara to State Department, 17 May, box 10, folder Greece (5), Memorandum Clift to Brent Scowcroft (National Security Adviser), 17 September 1976.

[59] NAUK, FCO 9/2397, Sir H. Phillips (British Embassy Ankara) to A. Goodison (Foreign Commonwealth Office), 4 May 1976.

[60] Gerald Ford Presidential Library, National Security Adviser records, box 10, folder Greece: State Department telegrams from Secretary of State–NODIS (5), State Department to US Embassy Athens, 3 July 1976.

[61] Gerald Ford Presidential Library, National Security Adviser records, box 10, folder Greece: State Department telegrams from Secretary of State–NODIS (5), State Department to US Embassy Athens, 3 July, box 10, folder Greece: State Department telegrams from Secretary of State–NODIS (5), State Department to US Embassy Athens, 21 July 1976.

[62] FRUS 1969–1976, XXX, 833, Memorandum of conversation Kissinger/Caglayangil, 14 August 1976.

[63] Gerald Ford Presidential Library, National Security Adviser records, box 10, folder Greece (5), Memorandum of the State Department to Brent Scowcroft (National Security Adviser): ‘Legal Issues in the Greek–Turkish Dispute over the Aegean’, 13 August 1976.

[64] Gerald Ford Presidential Library, National Security Adviser records, box 10, folder Greece (5), Memorandum of the State Department to Brent Scowcroft (National Security Adviser): ‘Legal Issues in the Greek–Turkish Dispute over the Aegean’, 13 August, box 34, folder Turkey (17), Memorandum Henry Kissinger to President Ford, 28 July 1976.

[65] Bitsios, Pera apo ta synora 1974–1977, 82. On the Greek political context see also Coufoudakis, ‘Greek–Turkish Relations, 1973–1983’, 208.

[66] Bitsios, Pera apo ta synora 1974–1977, 81.

[67] New York Times, 15 August 1976.

[68] Times, 23 August 1976.

[69] Gerald Ford Presidential Library, National Security Adviser records, box 34, folder Turkey: State Department telegrams from Secretary of State–NODIS (7), State Department to US Embassies Ankara and Athens, 25 August 1976.

[70] See his statement in The Times, 20 August 1976.

[71] FRUS 1969–1976, XXX, 231–40 and 826–42, Memoranda of conversation Kissinger/Bitsios and Kissinger/Caglayangil, 14 August 1976.

[72] Wilson, ‘The Aegean Dispute’, 98–9.

[73] It was a point not missed by the Averoff memorandum of November 1974.

[74] That was stated clearly by officials in the Greek foreign ministry. See NAUK, FCO 9/2397, Richards (British Embassy Athens) to Foreign Commonwealth Office, 8 December 1976.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sotiris Rizas

Sotiris Rizas is Director of Research at the Research Centre for Neohellenic History/Academy of Athens. He has written (in Greek) on the Cyprus question in the 1960s and 1970s. He is working currently on Greece's policy towards NATO and the European Community in the 1970s and Greek–Turkish relations concerning the Aegean.