Dimitrios' World

The visit by the Greek Prime Minister, Alexis Tsipras, to Ankara and Istanbul on 5-6 February was remarkable for a number of reasons. There was no spectacular breakthrough announced; in fact, a recognition of the status quo was the best that could be expected. Yet, the visit was important because it reflects both the complexities of the bilateral relationship between Greece and Turkey as well as a recognition that its content is shaped by a number of factors that are not necessarily of a bilateral nature. Let us put everything into context. We find ourselves in the midst of the 20 th year of the rapprochement process between the two countries. This is a process that began after a period of heightened animosity and tensions in September 1999 on the sidelines of the annual United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York when George Papandreou and Ismail Cem, the respective foreign ministers of Greece and Turkey at the time, decided to stress strengthened economi...

We live in an interesting world at an interesting time in history where universal access to information makes for complex deciphering of its trends and challenges. We live in a world where a country like Greece which accounts for 0,15% of the world’s population (ranked 78 th ) and 0,30% of the world’s GDP can still grab the world’s attention because of internal political and economic dynamics. Being part of the European Union, the world’s largest economy, and a member of the Eurozone, with the Euro being the world’s second most powerful currency, explains this discrepancy between the relative power of a Greece on its own and that of Greece as a midsize and longstanding member of the European Union. As a result, the current electoral campaign which will culminate on Sunday, 25 January has all the makings of making or breaking the country’s global standing with the almost certain victory of SYRIZA, the anti-establishment radical left party. On its own, a victory of the left would r...