Revisiting the Triangle of Turkey, Greece and the United States

Abstract

The systemic transformation of the 1990s has posed significant political challenges for the Turkish-US-Greek triangle. For students of international relations and security studies this offers intriguing puzzles: Is there a series of cycles or fluctuations in an essentially continuous flow of Turkish-US-Greek relations? How did the position and behavior of the US, Turkey and Greece change? Has the constellation of power in the triangle been affected by the new security setting and, if so, how? This brief article seeks to identify the analytical framework for best addressing these issues. It examines the roles, visions and strategies of the three actors in the new international system and provides an initial assessment of their relative power and influence.