The Aegean Sea: Bridge or Barrier?

By Mike Mason
21 May 2004

To provide a current assessment as to whether sustainable progress is being made in Greek-Turkish relations in the Aegean Sea, a number of questions must be addressed:

What are the key issues and should they be looked at in isolation or as a complete package?
Do any of the provisions in the various bilateral and multilateral treaties offer any help or hindrance towards achieving a solution?
Might third party assistance help to solve the problem, or would outside intervention be a hindrance to progress?
Are there any flashpoints that might actually lead to an armed conflict?

To answer these questions it will be necessary to examine the tradition of conflict between Greece and Turkey (chapter one), discuss their respective security interests (chapter two), analyze the salient legal points in their dispute (chapter three), and review the recent rapprochement (chapter four).

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