Civil Society and the Europeanization of Greek–Turkish Cooperation

Abstract

Drawing on interviews with Greek and Turkish policymakers and civil society leaders, this article analyzes how the context provided by Turkey's EU membership candidacy has facilitated and strengthened Greek–Turkish cooperation. I argue that Turkey's EU membership candidacy has empowered the domestic actors in favour of promoting Greek–Turkish cooperation, and allowed them to use the EU to legitimize their cooperative policies and activities. Thereby, since the Helsinki decisions, Greek–Turkish cooperation has gained an EU dimension, which has made a reversal in bilateral relations much less likely.