The focus will be on an assessment of the Greek-Turkish rapprochement process since 1999 and its impact on Greek foreign policy as it attempts to co-opt its bigger neighbor Turkey. While, from a Greek perspective, rapprochement since 1999 was integrally linked to the progress in EU-Turkey relations and the transformation of the Turkish institutional context into a more cooperative "Europeanised" one, the latest phase of enhanced cooperation between the two countries is occurring at a time when the "safety net" of Turkey''s accession process might not quite have the same resonance at it had in the past. Therefore the question is how Greek foreign policy can adapt to maintain the process of reconciliation with Turkey at a time of changing dynamics between the European Union and Turkey, a new foreign policy approach by Turkey which stresses it regional role, and the attempt to get Greece''s economic mess in order. In this context, can the mainstream Greek political establishment which supports the rapprochement process manage to keep it alive amid the toughening of mental barriers regarding Turkey in Europe and the “siege mentality” the Greek polity finds itself of the effects of the restructuring of the country’s economy as per the guidance of its international creditors? Is Greece a natural born peacemaker when it comes to dealing with its bigger neighbor to the East or are the variables such that it is not? How flexible is Greece in assuring the durability of the process.
