The France-Greece Relationship : A New Strategic Partnership ?
Since 2014, the number of maritime incidents between Turkey and its Greek and Cypriot neighbors has steadily increased. In 2020, at the height of the crisis, Greece obtained the unconditional support of French President Emmanuel Macron, who sought to portray himself as the defender of European sovereignty by adopting a confrontational stance towards Turkey.
France-Greece relations have only grown stronger since then, with a defense partnership between the two countries being signed in September 2021. Beyond the secular friendship that unites France and Greece, what is the strategic ambition of this new partnership? Can it be considered a Hellenic alliance from which Cyprus stands to benefit? How does Turkey perceive these developments on the borders of its “Blue Homeland"?
This debate will question the Greek, Turkish, Cypriot and French perspectives of this rapprochement.
Speakers :
Thanos Dokos, National Security Advisor of Greece
Sinan Ülgen, Director, Centre for Economics and Foreign Policy Studies (EDAM), (Istanbul), Visiting Scholar, Carnegie Europe
Zenonas Tziarras, Researcher at Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO), Cyprus Center
Dorothée Schmid, Senior Research Fellow, Head of Turkey and Middle East Program, Ifri
Chair : Christian Makarian, Journalist
This debate is part of the project “The Search for Franco-German Consensus on the Eastern Mediterranean: The Paris/Ankara Row and its Consequences for the EU” which is a project of CATS Network.The Centre for Applied Turkey Studies (CATS) at Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP) in Berlin is funded by Stiftung Mercator and the Federal Foreign Office. CATS is the curator of CATS Network, an international network of think tanks and research institutions working on Turkey.
For more information please contact Elisa Domingues dos santos, dominguesdossantos@ifri.org
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