Greece and its Balkan neighbors in Modern History Research Papers (original) (raw)

With the beginning of the Second World War, Greece entered the war fighting against Italy in 1940, which caused the country to weaken, and was eventually occupied by Germany. After the defeat of the Axis Powers and the Second World War ending, civil war occurred in Greece between 1946-1949. The country got even weaker on political, economic and military aspects. The political and economic problems in Greece, plus the impact of the Civil War and the Cold War dragged the country into an even worse situation. Greece needed a more powerful country’s military and economic aid, in order to rebuild itself.
However, Turkey’s balanced policy and neutral stance let to some sense of global isolation, Turkey did not actively participate in the war due to its neutral policy, an effort to establish positive relations with both Allied Forces and Axis Powers. Turkey struggled to receive support within the postwar bipolar world order and turned to the Western world and their alliances. The United States was unwilling to accept the self-serving Soviet Union demands upon Turkey, especially over the straits issue.
In 1947, Turkey and Greece grew closer to the West with the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan, which ultimately led to their joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Signed between Western countries in 1949, NATO was created in order to counter the growing Soviet threat. In 1950, as an act of good faith, Turkey and Greece committed troops to the United Nations Army in South Korea as a part of the Korean War effort, hoping to be accepted in to NATO.
Turkey and Greece enjoyed closer relations NATO countries throughout this period and due to their strategic locations, the US supported the accession of both countries to NATO.
Although Turkey and Greece's efforts to join NATO brought no immediate results, both countries persistently pursued policies that attracted the support of the United States. Eventually, on May 15, 1951, the US submitted a NATO proposal to grant membership to Turkey and Greece.
Following a series of negotiations, Greek and Turkish parliaments both accepted the membership proposal put forth by the NATO Council. On February 18, 1952, Greece and Turkey’s memberships to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization were validated.
The first part of this work comprises topics namely: the general situation of Greece after the German occupation, the Civil War and post-Civil War process, the general situation in Turkey, the transition to a multi-party system, Turkey’s intent to align with the West and the Democratic Party period. The second part comprises chapters covering the following topics: the Cold War, the Truman Doctrine, the Marshall Plan, the establishment of NATO and the Korean War, with facts derived from Turkish, Greek and English sources. The information is given about that time period. The third part analyses information derived from newspaper columns, articles, books and other publications reflective of the time period during the admission of Turkey and Greece to NATO.
Keywords: Cold War, Greece’s membership to NATO, Korean War, Marshall Plan, NATO, Truman Doctrine, Turkey’s membership to NATO