Greece, which has historically been in disagreement with Turkey on various issues, did not approve of Turkey’s strengthening due to its military relations with Israel. Greece, which was traditionally pro-Arab, only agreed to establish full diplomatic relations with Israel in May 1990. In February 1998, Greek Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos, who would later play a direct role in harboring the leader of the terrorist organization PKK, Abdullah Öcalan, characterized the cooperation between Tel Aviv and Turkey as an “alliance of criminals” and “a threat to regional security,” and in September 1998, he led a joint summit with the foreign ministers of Iran and Armenia, ultimately trying to develop an encirclement strategy against Turkey with an effort that proved unsuccessful from his perspective, as shown by Syria’s retreat on the PKK issue and the Greek-GCA partnership’s retreat in the S-300 crisis.
In summary, when it comes to Turkish foreign policy, the AKP government does not give up on its goal of converting all the steps it takes into domestic political gain. In this sense, in the upcoming 7-month period, an agenda is being followed in accordance with Erdoğan’s goal of generating financial resources for local elections. Turkey seems to have an unpredictable and non-negotiable diplomatic identity for a while longer.
