Military Coalitions in War and Peace: NATO and the Greek-Turkish Conflict 1952 – 1989

Abstract

This is an examination of the way in which the North Atlantic Alliance handled conflicts between members of it against the background of the Cold War and concludes that even though the North Atlantic Alliance is unable to resolve conflicts among its members simply on account of its existence, it has been able to contain them in the long term. This is in part due to a considerable degree on the skill of the NATO Secretary General, on the unity and willingness of the North Atlantic Council, and on high-level military authorities such as SACEUR.

Being an institution, the alliance in addition had the advantage of having bodies like the NATO Council which held permanent sessions or an integrated command structure and was able to use them over a long period to gradually force the two parties to the conflict to be prepared to do something and accept some compromise.