Greece's Engagement Strategy towards Turkey The Impact of Europeanization

Although it is assumed that the improved atmosphere in Greek-Turkish relations since1999 is composed of the initiatives undertaken by both sides the paper selfconsciouslyrestricts its case-study to the contribution to this evolution on behalf ofthe Greek side. Europeanization of Greek Foreign Policy and Greece's EngagementStrategy towards Turkey during the last decade constitute topics in the name of whicha lot of literature has been developed. Aim of this thesis is to find out and establish alink between them. How is Europeanization able to influence and shape theformulation of an EU member state strategy? How can it contribute to the adoption ofa strategy especially in cases where the targeted state does not belong to the EUfamily and is perceived to hold revisionist aspirations? Why does the currentlyemployed strategy seem according to the today's Greek Foreign Policy Makers theproper solution to deal with their security concerns? Assuming that the adoption ofthis policy is of strategic importance the author is interested to highlight the indicatorbehind this decision and to illustrate the way this strategy was interpreted andpursued.