"People's Diplomacy" Spearhead of Greek-Turkish Rapprochement

AIM Athens, 12 October 1999

[Greece's most famous basketball coach] "Yannis Joannidis, who until recently was telling us that 'we must crash the Turks' heads' (and was thus declaring to be proud each time he was returning victorious from Constantinople or Ankara) tomorrow will enter [Turkish team] Ulker's sports arena with [his Greek team] Olympiakos holding a banner with the inscription 'Peace, friendship and fraternization of the two peoples'. As time goes by, things and our sentiments are changing. Greeks and Turks have come closer after the earthquakes, realizing we can co-exist peacefully in the same neighborhood we are living in" ("Eleftherotypia" 6/10/1999).

Joannidis was once again victorious in Istanbul but this time he only said: "I am sending a message to the Greek and Turkish politicians: at long last, see things differently. Sports give you the incentive to find the way out from the problems that separate you" ("Eleftherotypia" 8/10/1999). A week earlier, "not even the most ardent supporter of Greek-Turkish friendship could believe how much different the setting had become in a sports arena. On 3 April 1997, in the second playoff of the [European basketball] Korac Cup between Tofas [the local Bursa Turkish team] and [Salonica's team] Aris (the latter won by 88-70), the stands had to be evacuated for the game to continue, after an interruption by the referree following an avalanche of objects" thrown by spectators against the Greek players. But on 30 September 1999, [Athens team] Panathinaikos players received a standing ovation in Brusa despite their crushing victory over the local team. A reaction facilitated again by the banner they held along with the Turkish players at the beginning of the game reading "Friendship, Peace, Fraternity" ("To Vima" 1/10/1999).

"It took the tragedy of the earthquakes [first in Greater Istanbul on 17/8/1999, then in Greater Athens on 7/9/1999] for the people to start realizing the sick and unreal character of the flag-waiving speech that has plagued the two countries for so many years. The earthquakes have indeed created a new framework in which the nationalist speech could no longer be effective. Suddenly, faced with the human tragedy, the syndrome 'racism/fatalism/defensive nationalism' ceased to have the incontestable prestige it had before the earthquakes. ( ) In conclusion, the quakes ushered in a new situation where, under popular pressure, the political elites in Turkey and in Greece have been forced to re-examine their attitude and look at the differences between the two countries in the light of the 21st rather then the 19th century" (London School of Economics Professor Nicos Mouzelis, "To Vima" 10/10/1999).

What would have looked like bad fiction a few years ago is therefore now a startling reality. Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou was the keynote speaker in the very official "Taksim annual lectures" in early October 1999 in Istanbul. It was certainly helpful that, before the quakes in late July 1999, Turkish media had praised him for his courageous, by Greek standards, public espousal of the right to self-identification of minority Macedonians and Turks. Nowadays, too, Greek and Turkish football and basketball teams compete for the privilege of organizing Greek-Turkish matches, and musicians to organize concerts, for the benefit of the quake victims of the popular suburbs of the two countries' most populous cities.

A "Metron Analysis" Greater Athens telephone opinion poll (805 interviews between 27-28/9/1999), for "Mega Channel"s magazine "Last Page" (3/10), indicates that 37% of the respondents have now a better image of Turkey (vs. only 3% with a worse opinion). Moreover, 40% believe that both countries need try equally to help improve bilateral relations (vs. 49% who believe that it is Turkey's responsibility to make the first move, a position that almost all Greek politicians and media had for years been repeating; while 4% even think Greece should be the one to make the first move).

While in a nationwide face-to-face "Metron Analysis" poll for "Ta Nea" (1,170 interviews between 17-29/9/1999, published on 5/10), 74% favor direct negotiations with Turkey (another "taboo" of the political and media establishment until the initiative of George Papandreou last summer). The Greek government's policy on Greek-Turkish relations gets a positive rating (behind its handling of the integration of the EU's Economic and Monetary Union but ahead of education, fight against criminality, and fight against unemployment). Turks are no longer as unpopular as the Albanians but get an average sympathy score of 4.4 (in a scale of 1-10) just ahead of another neighbor who has benefited from a previous rapprochement, the "Skopjans/Slavomacedonians" (score of 4.3), with Albanians far behind (2.8) and with Serbs as usual leading the pack (7.2) followed by Bulgarians (5.5).

For the time being, the discordant opinions against the impressive improvement in Greek-Turkish relations, mainly voiced by the tenors of the traditional, stereotypical rear-guard nationalistic, xenophobic, isolationist and intolerant speech almost fall upon deaf ears. This has been helped by the fact that Papandreou's predecessor Theodore Pangalos has joined the side of the opponents. He has repeatedly used rude, vulgar, and at times near-racist expressions not only to criticize his successor's policy choices but also to undermine his and his associates' credibility and motives. Such attacks discredited whatever valid political arguments he and the other hard-liners may have had.

However, the current euphoria is still superficial and needs concrete results to become solidly entrenched. The renewed Greek-Turkish dialog and US mediation in Cyprus must show tangible progress for the people to see that things are (worth) moving ahead and the lurking nationalist to remain sidelined. Otherwise, emotional as these two Mediterranean peoples are, it may not be difficult for the pendulum to swing all the way back. The warning of "Kathimerini" columnist Pantelis Boukalas (12/12/1999) is eloquent: "It is delightful, and it goes so much against entrenched prejudices, to listen to joint Greek -Turkish concerts and see friendly football matches or basketball games between Greek and Turkish teams, with the noble aim of supporting the earthquake victims on the western and eastern sides of the Aegean. But it is untimely and exaggerated to suppose that emotional gestures like these augur radical change in relations between the two countries. The attempts to outdo one another in spreading hope do not simply bank on spontaneous empathy, but abuse it. They ignore too readily the fact that, if the old saying that there is nothing to separate the two peoples is true, it is not the people (in their 'fabled innocence') who determine the foreign (or domestic) policy of their country ( ). This does not at all mean that anyone is justified in scorning the outburst of emotion, the sympathy of solidarity, no matter how likely it is to be revoked in time. But it does seem that we have gone from exaggerated rejection to exaggerated consensus, without once again - checking the terms and criteria. Thus, at the first sports meeting, here or there, where abuse and coins take the place of friendly slogans, we will beat a retreat and drop anchor in the safety of time-honored stereotypes."

Panayote Dimitras (AIM)