ABSTRACT

The major convulsions in the international system that accompanied the end of the Cold War are now almost a decade old. The fundamental transformation of the late 1980s/early 1990s poses a new challenge for the Turkish-US-Greek triangle. The aim of this chapter is to evaluate the impact of systemic changes on one of the most important relationships born out of the Cold War. The main task is to re-evaluate the course of the relations between Washington, Athens and Ankara and set it against today's highly interdependent international system, which is free from the bipolar East-West confrontation. The focus is an analytical one. It recognizes the complexity of the relationship: the variety of actors oper­ ating within (national) and around (international) the Turkish-GreekAmerican arena. It highlights those actors, allowing for discussion of the relative power and influence. An evaluation is attempted in the security sphere. The article's analytical framework identifies the existence of four interlocking environments. The first is the US foreign policy-making process, within which policy towards Greece and Turkey (and the region) is elaborated. The second environment is that of the set of the bilateral interactions (US-Greece, US-Turkey and Greece-Turkey). The third is the set of the individual (Greek and Turkish) domestic arenas, which are shaped by an aggregation of different domestic and external influences. Finally, there is the wider world environment in so far as it impinges on the triangular relationship. It is the combination of and the interaction among these four environments that underpins Turkish-US-Greek relations.