Cyprus Problem Research Articles

FIFA Diplomacy and Global Actors’ Interests in Cyprus: An Unsuccessful ‘Alliance’, 2013–2019

ABSTRACT This analysis unveils the convergence of the International Federation of Association Football’s [FIFA] football reunification initiatives and the interests of global actors with an interest in solving the Cyprus problem. In 2013, at FIFA’s headquarters in Zurich, Turkish-Cypriot and Greek-Cypriot football officials signed a historic provisional agreement to reunite the two communities in football. That prospect might also act as a catalyst towards the island’s political unification, and for that reason, it was welcomed by global actors for different reasons. For some, hydrocarbon exploration licencing by a united government of Cyprus would not be questioned. However, those loyal to Turkey and the Turkish-Cypriot political elite managed to thwart FIFA’s initiative to serve Turkey’s goals as a regional Power, that is, solve the Cyprus problem on its own terms and assume a role in the hydrocarbon regime in the Eastern Mediterranean.

The politics and ethical dilemmas of architectural conservation in an unrecognised state: insights from northern Cyprus

ABSTRACT There is little known about the architectural conservation policies, mechanisms, and dynamics within the contested boundaries of unrecognised states. This paper redresses this lack of information and discusses the situation in northern Cyprus, an exemplary case of a long-surviving de facto state. Following its secession in 1974, the Turkish Cypriot community assumed responsibility for a substantial portfolio of monuments and heritage structures with complex ethnoreligious legacies. Except for some limited local resources, conservation works have been externally-funded, mainly from Turkey, the United Nations, the United States, and the European Union. This paper explores conservation governance and the diplomatic manoeuvrings of the local and international actors . There are de facto authorities, which keep cultural heritage under their control but cannot safeguard it, and the Greek Cypriot-led Republic of Cyprus, which links the conservation of cultural heritage to resolving the Cyprus problem. As well, there are foreign agents whose growing heritage diplomacies mark their presence in northern Cyprus by providing support for conservation. The analysis reveals an imbroglio with numerous complexities and potential ethical issues and dilemmas. It suggests that heritage conservation in an unrecognised state becomes a tool of soft power for international actors and is linked to wider geo-political tensions.

Nationalism and Reconciliation in Cypriot Documentary Film, 1976–1987

This article examines the production of documentary films about the Cyprus conflict produced between the late 1970 and late 1980s. Two films have been selected for analysis: Cyprus: The Other Reality (1976, dir. Lambros Papadimitrakis and Thekla Kittou), an anti-nationalist documentary produced in the immediate aftermath of the Turkish incursion of the island, and A Detail in Cyprus (1987, dir. Panicos Chrysanthou), which looks back at the social effects of the incursion and the estrangement of the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities. Based on original interviews with their directors, this article gives an account of the production histories of the two documentaries and looks at their means through which they were distributed to the public. The article also examines the ways in which these two films represent the Cyprus conflict, in particular their engagement with the prevailing nationalist ideologies at work in both Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities and the alternate concept of Cypriocentrism. Finally, this article examines the ways in which both films were politically suppressed following their release within the Republic of Cyprus.

The “Nixon Letter” to Ecevit: An Untold Story of the Eve of the Turkish Invasion of Cyprus in 1974

In 1964, the president of the United States Lyndon B. Johnson, prevented the planned Turkish invasion of Cyprus by sending the Turkish prime minister a letter so tough that the secretary of state, George Ball, described it as the diplomatic equivalent of an atomic bomb. In 1974, Turkey was once again gearing up for invasion. According to American diplomat James Spain, the president of the United States, Richard Nixon, also sent a letter that even exceeded Johnson's severity. However, Nixon's letter never reached the hands of the Turkish prime minister, and no one ever heard anything about it. This time, Turkey went on invading and ultimately occupying northern Cyprus. This article examines the dramatic diplomatic background on the eve of the Cyprus crisis based on Spain’s revealing account as well as Henry Kissinger’s telephone conversation transcripts. The story of the compilation, dispatch, and non-delivery of the so-called Nixon letter provides us not just with an astonishing piece of diplomatic history, but also shows the vacillation of the United States in front of a crippling geopolitical dilemma: how to keep two warring allies apart.

A theoretical approach to the Cyprus Problem: Neoclassical Realism with Neoliberalism

Abstract This paper, which covers the period of the 2004 Annan Plan and its rejection to date, places the Cyprus Problem in an International Relations theoretic framework. It searches for a “foreign policy outcome,” essentially a decision by the leaders of the Greek-Cypriot and Turkish-Cypriot communities, to politically reunite these two communities under the auspices of the UN. The paper provides a synthesis of the neo-liberal and the neoclassical realist paradigms, aiming to better interpret the existing experience and to shed light on the prospect of a future solution to the problem. The strategic environment for the Republic of Cyprus (RoC) and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) is ‘permissive’ because the message sent by the international system for reunification does not require the use of hard power. The leaders of the two communities play a key role, although the strategic political culture in small states such as the TRNC is not developed and state-society relations are underdeveloped. Also, the civil society at large can play a role in influencing the leaders' images regarding the reunification opportunity.

Economic, Social and Cultural Rights During Crisis in Cyprus: The Interplay Between Domestic and External Normative Systems

Economic, Social and Cultural (ESC) rights have been present and active in the Cypriot legal order from the moment of its constitutional genesis. Due to the special relationship between the Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), the judiciary has adopted a unique approach when interpreting the Constitution; it has been willing to engage into a comparative juridical analysis and to rely on the ECHR and the findings of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECtHR). Through this nexus with the ECHR and the streamlined approach with the ECtHR, the legal system of Cyprus has been progressive in placing social and economic rights – and to a lesser extent cultural rights – in a secure position. This traditional approach of the Cypriot courts was called into question by the 2011-2016 economic crisis, which challenged the interplay between domestic and external normative systems. The aim of this paper is to assess the impact of the recent economic crisis on the protection of ESC rights and the change in the balance between domestic and normative systems. The analysis concludes that the protection of ESC rights under the Cypriot Constitution, as formed by Cypriot case law, has been substantive and effective, while positively influenced by the extensive deployment of the comparative method. That long-standing approach has been challenged by the economic crisis and it seems that the extrovert judicial viewpoint is now partly reconsidered. The Supreme Court has indicated, albeit in specific instances, its willingness to disregard guidance from external influences and to focus instead on the idea that national constitutional protection can and should exceed that of the ECHR.

‘Educating for peace’: conflict, division and social work education in Cyprus

ABSTRACT Social work practice and training in the context of political and ethnic conflict has seen renewed interest among scholars. Recent research has tried to shift focus away from simplistic interpretations of social work as an unshakably ‘benevolent’ profession. A recent emphasis on social work’s colonial legacies and the structural causes of political violence provide us with important new directions on how to rethink and reshape social work education and practice in these contexts. Cyprus presents a very interesting, yet under-explored, case study as it remains an island de facto divided, along ethnic lines. The division has resulted in the physical and political separation of the two most populous ethnic communities (Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots). United Nations (UN)-sponsored peace talks have gained momentum in recent years. This paper offers the first systematic exploration of the views of social work students across both sides of the divide. Through a mixed-method approach, students were able to express their thoughts and beliefs on ‘the other’ and on social work in the post-conflict realities. The study confirms the contradictory nature of social work education in Cyprus challenges the futility of nationalism and argues for the importance of bi-communal social work partnerships.

Performing Peace: Vernacular Reconciliation and the Diplomacy of Return in Cyprus

Abstract The Cyprus conflict is usually described as one between a majority Greek Cypriot and minority Turkish Cypriot population, with their opposing visions of the island’s future. In that conflict, more than 200,000 Cypriots from both these communities were displaced between 1958 and 1974. Lost in this standard narrative, however, are the conflict’s other ‘Others’: the smaller Maronite, Armenian, Latin, and Roma populations, who also experienced displacement in the course of the conflict. This paper concerns the Maronite community’s struggle to remain in or return to their historic lands in the island’s northwest. We examine the acts of everyday diplomacy that, over the past decade, have resulted in a revival of the largest Maronite village, a removal of restrictions on their rights, and most recently the partial withdrawal of the Turkish military from another Maronite village so that it may be reopened to settlement. We use these as instances of what we term ‘vernacular reconciliation’, ways of rebuilding coexistence that suspend questions of sovereignty that remain at the heart of the Cyprus impasse. We argue that this pragmatic approach calls on cultural knowledge of past patterns of coexistence through performances that in turn produce deeply felt senses of responsibility and patterns of reciprocity. Such patterns of reciprocity, we show, are reappropriated in the context of ongoing conflict.

Between political survival and regional power: the justice and development party and Cyprus, 2002–2017

ABSTRACT Cyprus has featured prominently on Turkey’s foreign policy agenda in recent years. The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has weaved this long-standing issue into a broader narrative of ‘geographical imagination’. Cyprus policy has thus reflected the AKP’s socio-political vision of a ‘Yeni Türkiye’ (New Turkey), first articulated nearly a decade ago, in which well-entrenched narratives about national identity and the Cyprus conflict are central. Against this backdrop, Cyprus has been leveraged in the twin interests of AKP survival (boosting incumbency through nationalist appeals) and Turkey’s regional power aspirations. The present article offers a timely survey of Turkey’s Cyprus policy over a 15-year period from 2002 (when the AKP rose to power) until the failure of the negotiation talks on Cyprus in Crans-Montana, Switzerland in July 2017. In so doing, the article charts the important continuities as well as the key markers of transition in Ankara’s policy towards Cyprus under the AKP.

The American-Turkish Political Relations 1991-2001 A.D.

The U.S. Turkish relations are one of the issues of interest to the researcher in the field of politics as it is a relationship between two important and active parties in the international arena, especially the Middle East region.
 The United States had a great interest in Turkey's siding with the West. Turkey also found its interest in that, so we found it a member of the NATO.
 In contrast to the expected after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Turkey's importance in the strategic perception of the United States did not end, especially since Turkey's geographical proximity seemed to be more strained and changing, not to mention the Western model adopted by Turkey, which the United States wants to be an example in the region.
 The American- Turkish relations for the period (1991-2001) were influenced by radical and fundamental changes. These variables are either internal or international. The internal factors influencing this relationship lie in the Turkish political parties which play a major role in the political process. The other factor is the Kurdish issue, which Turkey is dealing with very cautiously, while the United States has used it as a pressure card on the Turkish governments. It has not pursued a consistent policy on the issue and has always appeared against human 
 rights violations.
 The other external factors, including the Cyprus issue, are a source of concern for the alliance strategy between the two countries from the 1960s until the present, and there is the matter of dealing with terrorism especially after the events of 11 September 2001.
 The other factor is the question of the EU accession which is the Turkish dream and the source of interest for its foreign policy. Which the United States is trying to show that it is the only one who able to persuade the Europeans to accept the membership of Turkey.
 Turkut Ouzel's government has sought to play a pivotal role at the regional and global levels and in the realization of Turkish interests in the Central Asian republics, the Black Sea basin, the Mediterranean basin, the Middle East region, the Arab neighbors, Israel, Iran and the Balkans, beside achieving the economic development and self-sufficiency; efforts are incessant to fulfill those ambitions.
 Turkey has acted to change the unilateral approach towards the United States and the NATO to another one that includes multilateral policies related to the normalization of relations with the African and Asian worlds as well as neighboring countries.

Reputation on the (green) line: revisiting the ‘Plaza moment’ in United Nations peacekeeping practice, 1964–1966

AbstractAppointing a United Nations (UN) mediator to work in tandem with the United Nations Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) in March 1964 led to fundamental shifts in how the UN Secretariat inner circle orientated the organisation’s presence in Cyprus. The escalating crisis between the two communities in Cyprus and political pressure from UN member states to respond before Cold War superpower nations became engulfed, prompted the creation of UNFICYP and the recruitment of a UN mediator on 4 March 1964. This article argues that the UN leadership intended to restore member state trust following the controversial Congo mission (ONUC) and expand the organisation’s diplomatic agency through the innovation of deploying the dedicated mediator alongside the armed mission. However, the success of the meditator was diplomatically limited by the localised dynamics of the Cyprus conflict and the willingness of the Guarantor parties to surrender their sovereign imaginaries of post-colonial Cyprus. Ultimately, the experiment in field-based mediation forced the UN Secretariat leadership to acknowledge the incompatibility of appeasing all member states on one hand whilst leading field-based political negotiations with the other.

The Legal and Political Aspects of the Eastern Mediterranean: What is at Stake?

The main challenge in relation to Mediterranean gas is the distribution of potential gas reserves which inevitably entails delimitation of maritime borders. However, in the context of the Eastern Mediterranean, this is highly problematic mainly due to the status of the Greek islands along with their close proximity to the Turkish mainland and the failure in resolving the ‘Cyprus issue.’ There are two key questions in relation to the Eastern Mediterranean crisis: (i) What are the contesting claims over maritime border delimitation between Turkey, Greece, and the Greek Administration of Southern Cyprus with reference to the international law? (ii) Why has the Eastern Mediterranean dispute been politicized so much that it has drawn in countries far from the region? This article examines the legal and political dimensions of the Eastern Mediterranean crisis by analyzing the respective countries’ standpoints through the lens of international law along with the implications of earlier such disputes. The article also investigates the political dimensions of the crisis by looking into alliance formation and how existing political tensions in the region came to the surface in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Journalism in conflict-affected societies: Professional roles and influences in Cyprus

Covering a conflict for journalists when they are members of one of the conflicting parties has some professional and moral dilemmas. It creates tensions between their professionalism and sense of belonging to their community. This article, focusing on journalism on both sides of Cyprus, explores how journalists think of their role in conflict-affected societies. Based on semi-structured, face-to-face interviews with journalists from the Turkish Cypriot media and Greek Cypriot media, it explores journalists’ self-reflection of their roles and the forces they believe that affect their work when reporting on the Cyprus conflict. The findings show journalists do not have a fixed identity but a changeable one. They renegotiate and reproduce the meaning and role of journalism in society, and move between professional and ethnic identities depending on the state of the conflict.

Czechoslovakia and the ‘Cyprus issue’ in the years 1960–1974: secret arms deals, espionage, and the Cold War in the Middle East

This study is based on a broad range of newly declassified documents which garner revelatory findings pertaining to the involvement of Czechoslovakia in the Cyprus dispute in the years 1960–1974. These new findings reveal that the countries of the Eastern Bloc sought to prevent the overthrow of the Cypriot President Makarios during the studied period, as his foreign policy ensured that the island would not become a NATO base against allied Arab countries in the Middle East. Czechoslovakia played a considerable role in keeping Makarios in power by arms deliveries (some of them hitherto unknown), which allowed him to build up the special police forces to counterweight the National Guard controlled by Greece and face attempts of the Greek junta to overthrow him. Additionally, this article analyses activities of Czechoslovak intelligence on the island which managed to obtain valuable information on the politically unstable Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East from the inner circle of President Makarios. Czechoslovak intelligence, contrary to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, backed weapon sales to Cyprus and supported the island’s non-alignment policy because these guaranteed a steady supply of valuable intelligence on the entire Middle East. Supplemental data for this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/00263206.2020.1860944.

The Impact of the Cyprus Conflict on Turkey's EU Accession Process

Abstract: This study aims to analyze the impact of the Cyprus conflict on Turkey-EU relations while considering several factors: 1) the EU conditionality approach, 2) Turkish-Greek relations, 3) component problems of the Cyprus conflict 4) the recent developments in the Eastern Mediterranean and their impact on Turkey-EU relations. The main focus is on the documents and decisions of different bodies of the EU and how they link the Cyprus conflict to Turkey’s accession process and how Turkey reacts to them. For this purpose, a content analysis of documents, decisions, and protocols issued by the European Council and Commission and Progress Reports on Turkey is conducted. The conclusions drawn from the research are the following: 1) the Cyprus conflict and Turkey’s tense relations with Greece have negatively impacted and continue to impact Turkey-EU relations, 2) Turkey, to some extent, conformed to EU conditionality when it did not refer to the Cyprus conflict, 3) the problems of rights to ports/airports of Cyprus and the issues of property and IDPs shape the strained relations between Turkey and the EU, and finally 4) the situation in the Eastern Mediterranean concerning rights to hydrocarbons currently and in the near future will determine the geopolitical dynamics in the region. Keywords: Turkey-EU relations, Cyprus conflict, Greece, conditionality, “TRNC”, accession.

Greek-Turkish Relations: Current Status and Opportunities to Reduce Confrontational Potential

The article examines Greek-Turkish relations, whose periodic aggravation is one of the pressing problems of modern international relations. The main reasons for the conflict in relations between Greece and Turkey are: the unresolved Cyprus problem; historical and civilisational contradictions; non-compliance with the rights of national minorities in both countries; the struggle for access to energy resources in the Eastern Mediterranean; unresolved issues regarding the delimitation of territorial waters, the continental shelf, exclusive economic zones, and airspace in the Aegean Sea. Analysis of the current stage in the development of Greek-Turkish relations allows us to make a conclusion about their instability and a high level of conflict potential, which is exacerbated by the irreconcilable positions of the parties on the key bilateral issues, historical prejudices, and domestic political factors. This has a negative impact on the security situation in the Eastern Mediterranean. At the same time, it is hoped that the political will of both countries, the resolute position of NATO, the EU, and the US on finding a mutually acceptable compromise and establishing dialogue, trust, and mutual tolerance between the two neighbouring states will eliminate the threat of a military conflict. The experience of dynamic cooperation between Greece and Turkey in the late 20th – early 21st centuries shows that the normalisation of relations between these countries is quite possible. The reduction of confrontational potential will be facilitated by the following factors: renunciation of belligerent and offensive rhetoric and threats of the use of force; demilitarization of the Aegean basin; normalisation and development of Turkey’s relations with the European Union; strengthening of trade and economic relations between Greece and Turkey; search for opportunities to jointly produce and transport energy resources; cooperation in culture and tourism; efforts to reach a compromise in the settlement of the Cyprus problem. Keywords: Greek-Turkish relations, conflict, Cyprus problem, ‘Aegean crisis’, Eastern Mediterranean.

Antibiotic Resistance in Pseudomonas aeruginosaIsolated from Hospital and Community-Acquired Infections: Current Status in Northern Cyprus

Objective: Pseudomonas aeruginosa is among the most common nosocomial opportunistic pathogens capable of acquiring multi-drug resistance. Recent data on antibiotic resistance in Northern Cyprus is limited. We aimed evaluate antibiotic susceptibility profiles of P. aeruginosa strains isolated from clinical samples and contribute to the update of antibiotic use policies in the country. Methods: Total of 504 P. aeruginosa strains sent to Microbiology Laboratory from various clinics from September 2016 to October 2019 were retrospectively analyzed. Clinical samples were cultured on %5 sheep blood agar and eosin-methylene blue agar. BD Phoenix™ 100 (Becton Dickinson Co., Sparks, Maryland, USA) automated bacterial identification system and conventional antimicrobial susceptibility testing was used. Antimicrobial susceptibility was determined in accordance with the European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (EUCAST) guidelines. The distribution of P. aeruginosa isolates according to hospital services, sample types, admission types, age group, and antibiotic resistance rates were investigated. Results: P. aeruginosa was mostly isolated from urine (37.3%), deep tracheal aspirate (17.9%) and abscess/wound material (17.9%) samples. Strains were most commonly obtained from the intensive care clinics (35.9%). Infections were observed mainly in >65 age group (49.6%) and in-patients (70.8%) group. Antibiotic resistance rates were detected as 47.7% for aztreonam, 32% for cefepime, 26.3% for ceftazidime, 26.4% for imipenem, 25.6% for ciprofloxacin, 24.6% for meropenem, 19.7% for piperacillin-tazobactam, 13.5% for gentamicin, 12.2% for colistin and 5.3% for amikacin. Multi-drug resistant P. aeruginosa rate was 19.2%. When compared with 2010-2014, a substantial increase in rates of cefepime, ceftazidime, ciprofloxacin, piperacillin-tazobactam and carbapenem resistance was detected within the last three years. Conclusions: In this study, the highest resistance rates were detected against aztreonam and cefepime, and the highest susceptibility was observed for colistin and amikacin. These results may be used for empirical treatments, establishment of rational antibiotic use policies and prevention of emerging antibiotic resistance problem in Cyprus.

Cyprus dispute: Between contested territories and spontaneous reappropriation.

This paper discusses the concepts of conflict and border in relation to place and identity reflecting on narratives and meanings of dividing urban and civil borders. It takes the divided Greek and Turkish society living in Nicosia as a case study. The significance of the wall, as an explicit expression of division, is discussed but also overturned by looking at its closure and its permeability when Nicosia’s sealed borders opened again for everyday crossing. The inquiry speculates an alternative path informed by Glissant’s concept of Opacity, Agamben and Nancy’s non-essentialist approaches non-community to look at entangled deep-rooted ethnic divisions and fragments of shared cultures. To inform urban epistemology, two bottom-up examples are analysed using De Certeau’s concepts of everyday life: Home for Cooperation, which is a neutral space in the buffer zone for unified collectively and Occupy Buffer-zone Movement, which has occupied a non-place and transformed it into a public square through grassroots activism. The paper highlights that in order to draw a feasible future of Cyprus, an anti-essentialist acceptance of the multiple and eclectic origins of the context is needed. In this sense, the tangible and intangible meaning of division requires a shift of meaning, from delimitation, classification, separation to a porous element of balance and calibration. The top-down urban models and concept of inclusiveness have been shaken by the temporal civic grassroots communities, and this demonstrates that collective participation fosters the reappropriation of public space, overturning the perception and the experience of the border of differences. This contributes to theorizing a critical and reflective,rather than idealistic, practice of participation in urban design.

ГРЕЦЬКИЙ ЧИННИК СЕРЕДЗЕМНОМОРСЬКОЇ ПОЛІТИКИ США В ДРУГІЙ ПОЛОВИНІ 1940-Х – КІНЦІ 1980-Х РР.

Greece is an essential part of the Mediterranean and Middle East security system. Home and foreign policy of Greece became a factor of the critical importance for the US. The author`s vision of the Greek factor’s impact on the US Mediterranean policy was presented in the article. Research objective. The paper is devoted to the US Mediterranean policy and the Greek factor in the context of the Cold War. The purpose of the presented study is to research connection between Greek home and foreign policy to the US strategy in the region. Scientific novelty. The innovative nature of the article lies in the revision of the US Mediterranean policy according to political processes in Greece. A special attention was paid on regional strategic developments and US adaptation to them. Research methods. The system analysis was used in the article to research geopolitical and economic interests of the USA in the regional dimension. The history and genetic method is used in the article also. Conclusions. Greece played an important role in the US foreign policy throughout the Cold War. Greece was regarded not only as an equal partner, but also as a guarantor of the stability of NATO’s Southern Flank. Greece policy`s influence on the US Mediterranean policy had formed the so-called Greek factor. During the Cold war Greek factor forced the US to adapt. Such aspects as Truman doctrine, Cyprus problem, regime of Greek junta prioritized American policy in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East. Temporal withdrawal of Greece from NATO and emergence of Greek anti-Americanism were the most difficult stages of the US Mediterranean policy. By the end of the Cold War political anti-Americanism transformed into terrorist threat. The current situation in the Middle East region makes the US Mediterranean policy relevant. And its research has a prospect for a future survey.

Assessing the 2010–2018 financial crisis in Greece, Portugal, Ireland, Spain, and Cyprus

PurposeThe article develops a model to interpret the 2010–2018 financial crisis in Greece, Portugal, Ireland, Spain and Cyprus, and the loan programs from the IL (International Lender; i.e. the European Union, the European Commission, and the International Monetary Fund).Design/methodology/approachFor each country, an isoelastic utility with constant relative risk aversion is assumed. For the IL a Cobb Douglas utility is assumed with consumption, the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) to debt ratio, and market stability as inputs, accounting for time discounting. This article applies two methods to assess the empirics. The first method considers the IL's strategy as a whole over the 2010–2018 period. The second method assumes that the IL maximizes its utility in one period to determine its optimal loan, accounting for the empirics in that period, and the debt in the previous period.FindingsFor the first method, when the output elasticity in the IL's Cobb Douglas utility is high favoring consumption, the IL prefers offering a higher loan than its actual loan. Otherwise the IL prefers to offer no loan. The output elasticity at which the IL prefers to offer a loan is lowest for Greece, second lowest for Cyprus, third lowest for Portugal, and highest for Ireland and Spain. A high loan to Greece over a larger range of the output elasticity for Greece's consumption is supported by Greece being prioritized through the loan program. For the second method, the IL prefers to offer no loan to Greece which is too burdened with debt. Thus, the first method seems preferable, considering the entire duration of the crisis holistically.Originality/valueThe article offers a novel perspective of how to assess debt crises, enabling the IL to weigh various factors such as consumption, GDP, loan offered, and each country's debt to credit markets.