Turkey's rapprochements with Greece and Armenia: Understanding path breaking steps

Abstract

This comparative analysis considers the Turkish-Greek rapprochement and the Turkish-Armenian rapprochement processes with a three-dimensional approach. Although the deep-rooted conflicts between neither Greece and Turkey nor Armenia and Turkey were resolved via these processes, the bilateral relationships between the countries have significantly differed. This paper argues that two key main reasons lie behind this difference: the nature of the initiatives taken during the two processes and the influence of external actors on the course of the bilateral relations between Turkey and Greece, on the one hand, and Turkey and Armenia on the other hand.