Greco-Turkish Federation

Your challenge is to have Greece and Turkey as part of the same political unit with a POD after 1900 and each having at least some autonomy
 
Was actually proposed at times both in the 19th century and in the 20th, so lets have a shot at it. Soo our first task is to keep Greece and Turkey friendly and closely allied as in 1930-55 and build upon that.

So lets begin with the Greek parliamenary election of 1933 and George Kondylis reconciling with Venizelos. This shifts about 4.2% of the vote from the royalists to the republicans, just enough to turn a close victory of the former to easy victory of the latter. This has certain positive effects for Greece. The country avoids the instability of 1933-36 which almost led to civil war and did bring restoration and a royal dictactorship under Metaxas. Come 1940 the country is still a republic and thanks to having 3 more years preparing and avoiding the purges of republican officers is militarily notably stronger and less internally divided. When Mussolini attacks the Greeks mobilize 600,000 men instead of 450,000 and push back the Italians even harder than OTL. When the Germans intervene the Greeks with more troops to start with and without Papagos in command have shifted significant troops on the Olympus line. The Germans still win but it's slower and harder. By the end of it the allies are still holding Crete and the Eastern Aegean islands while tens of thousands of Greek troops have escaped from the mainland along the British.

Fast forward to 1946. Greece had a relatively better war. No civil war between the resistance organizations, thanks to the continuation of the republic in 1935 and the Greek government in Crete. EAM is still signficant but republican organisations even more so. And the Greek army in exile has gained a lot of PR from fighting in North Africa and Italy. Without the civil war as an excuse the Foreign Office proposed union of Cyprus with Greece takes place in 1946. Before that turns a major issue in the 1950s. By 1952 when both Greece and Turkey join NATO they are friendly to each other, have a fair bit more goodwill, the East Aegean islands were being supplied througgh Anatolia during the war, and Cyprus has ceased being a problem before even occuring.

It goes uphill from there. The September pogroms against the Constantinopolitan Greeks never happen and Greco-Turkish relations keep improving through the years, with increasing trade and investment between the two countries and a common enemy in the Soviet Union and her satellites. The Turkish army without Cyprus and tension with Greece is relativey less influential within the country. Greece joins EEC in 1973, backing Turkish entry afterwards (similar to what the two countries had done when they tried to join NATO) and by 1980 there is a free trade agreement betwen the two countries and joint arms procurement an production. By the turn of the new century Greece and Turkey are no different than France and Germany. Talks for a loose federation within the EU which Turkey joined in 2004 are underway though not expected to end anytime soon...
 
Your challenge is to have Greece and Turkey as part of the same political unit with a POD after 1900 and each having at least some autonomy

No. We had that but the Greeks left with a little bit of violence and outside positive vibes.

Did not work. Too nationalistic and different religions. Will not work.
 
Short of having a federal EU (which includes both countries), or a global socialist revolution or something like that, this...really isn't very plausible.
 
No. We had that but the Greeks left with a little bit of violence and outside positive vibes.

Did not work. Too nationalistic and different religions. Will not work.

Well for some reason we did not think well of the management and wanted to return to the previous management. But have I mentioned the Greek-Ottoman dual monarchy proposed in 1878? :cool:
 
Nope, no way voluntarily, lion lies down with the lamb first. Even Skippy the ASB would have a hard time with this.
 
Was actually proposed at times both in the 19th century and in the 20th, so lets have a shot at it. Soo our first task is to keep Greece and Turkey friendly and closely allied as in 1930-55 and build upon that.

So lets begin with the Greek parliamenary election of 1933 and George Kondylis reconciling with Venizelos. This shifts about 4.2% of the vote from the royalists to the republicans, just enough to turn a close victory of the former to easy victory of the latter. This has certain positive effects for Greece. The country avoids the instability of 1933-36 which almost led to civil war and did bring restoration and a royal dictactorship under Metaxas. Come 1940 the country is still a republic and thanks to having 3 more years preparing and avoiding the purges of republican officers is militarily notably stronger and less internally divided. When Mussolini attacks the Greeks mobilize 600,000 men instead of 450,000 and push back the Italians even harder than OTL. When the Germans intervene the Greeks with more troops to start with and without Papagos in command have shifted significant troops on the Olympus line. The Germans still win but it's slower and harder. By the end of it the allies are still holding Crete and the Eastern Aegean islands while tens of thousands of Greek troops have escaped from the mainland along the British.

Fast forward to 1946. Greece had a relatively better war. No civil war between the resistance organizations, thanks to the continuation of the republic in 1935 and the Greek government in Crete. EAM is still signficant but republican organisations even more so. And the Greek army in exile has gained a lot of PR from fighting in North Africa and Italy. Without the civil war as an excuse the Foreign Office proposed union of Cyprus with Greece takes place in 1946. Before that turns a major issue in the 1950s. By 1952 when both Greece and Turkey join NATO they are friendly to each other, have a fair bit more goodwill, the East Aegean islands were being supplied througgh Anatolia during the war, and Cyprus has ceased being a problem before even occuring.

It goes uphill from there. The September pogroms against the Constantinopolitan Greeks never happen and Greco-Turkish relations keep improving through the years, with increasing trade and investment between the two countries and a common enemy in the Soviet Union and her satellites. The Turkish army without Cyprus and tension with Greece is relativey less influential within the country. Greece joins EEC in 1973, backing Turkish entry afterwards (similar to what the two countries had done when they tried to join NATO) and by 1980 there is a free trade agreement betwen the two countries and joint arms procurement an production. By the turn of the new century Greece and Turkey are no different than France and Germany. Talks for a loose federation within the EU which Turkey joined in 2004 are underway though not expected to end anytime soon...
Perhaps it would help if Hitler actually invaded Turkey in WW2. If Turkish contributions are not limited to logistics but they are actually fighting their way back into Greece then relations would be much better.
 
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