Greece’s relationship with its Turkish neighbors has ranged from ambivalent to difficult for a very long time. As a rule, Turkey is viewed as an unpredictable and aggressive neighbor that Greece needs to protect itself against. That’s part of the reason Athens spends 3% of its GDP on defense.
At the same time, Turks are almost always given a warm welcome, whether as tourists or investors — especially when they are spending money on Greece‘s east Aegean islands, also known as the Dodecanese Islands, between Greece and Turkey.
Not all that many tourists — domestic or foreign — tend to make it over here. In 2024, the number of ferry passengers from Turkey to Greece jumped to 1.5 million, up dramatically from 800,000 in…
