Crypto-optimism in Turkish-Greek relations. What is next? This paper is a revised and shortened version of a chapter, 'Contemporary Turkish--Greek relations, constraints and opportunities', scheduled to appear in M. Aydın and K. Ifantis (eds), Turkish--Greek Relations; Overcoming the Security Dilemma in the Aegean , Frank Cass, London, forthcoming. For the title of this paper, my thanks are due to Theodoros Coloumbis, who, after hearing my presentation on 'recent' developments in Greek--Turkish relations in Athens in spring 2000, stated that I was a crypto-optimist despite my apparent pessimism.

Examines crypto-optimism in Turkish-Greek relations. Distrust between the two nations created by their 'living history'; Conflict between the two nations stemming from the fact that both Turkey and Greece have obtained their national identities by fighting against, and interacting with each other.