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Back to the Future? Brinksmanship in the Aegean
May 18, 2018 @ 5:00 PM - 8:00 PM UTC+3
Free
Greece and Turkey are neighbors, foes, and allies, joined geographically by a unique and occasionally disputed border over land and sea, allied bilaterally the one and the other with the United States, and multilaterally through NATO, while Turkey is also a candidate for membership in the European Union.
In the past weeks, reports in English international media outlets have claimed that Greece and Turkey are closer to war than at any time since 1996, and conversely, more closely aligned, and more peaceful, than ever before.
Tensions remain high, alarmingly so to outside observers, in part owing to the unprecedented uncertainty emanating from the Administration of President Donald J. Trump, the US having long played the role of guarantor of stability in the Aegean.
Add Russian interests in the region, the impact of the ongoing military and refugee crisis in Syria, and challenges to democracy and the rule of law on both sides of the Atlantic (with elections certain in Turkey and in the US, and possible in Greece, in 2018), and you have a volatile mix.
What should one expect going forward? Is the current climate reminiscent in any way of previous periods in local history, or are we called upon to recast this history in a new and potentially unsettling light? Will tensions escalate? Who, if not the US (and NATO), can act as an honest broker in regional affairs?
In a unique collaborative venture, the Dukakis Center and the Center for International and European Studies will convene a distinguished group of scholars, practitioners, and diplomats for a public debate on these and other questions and issues.
Working language: English
Participants:
Pavlos Apostolides, Ambassador; former director, Greek National Intelligence
Mustafa Aydin, Kadir Has University; International Relations Council of Turkey
Maria Bozoudi, ACT
Mitat Celikpala, Kadir Has University
Serhat Guvenc, Kadir Has University
Kostas Ifantis. Panteion University of Athens; Kadir Has University
Alex Karagiannis, former Senior Adviser to the Director General of the US Foreign Service
John Koenig, former US Ambassador to Cyprus
Sotiris Serbos, Democritus University of Thrace
Dimitrios Triantaphyllou, Kadir Has University
David Wisner, ACT