Greek military intelligence and the crescent : estimating the Turkish threat ; crises, leadership and strategic analyses 1974-1996

During the 1987 Greek-Turkish crisis, Greek military intelligence provided essential information on Turkey’s limited military preparations, so helping to prevent an escalation to confrontation. In the 1996 crisis, Greek military intelligence failed to provide tactical information and details of the Turkish intent to deploy troops on one Greek islet. This failure allowed the Turks to turn the tables on the Greeks. Greek Military Intelligence and the Crescent successfully draws together the crucial assessments made throughout each episode that defined the crisis-management styles of Prime Ministers Andreas Papandreou and Costas Simitis. Dimitrakis’s expert knowledge of the geographical and politico-military landscape reveals the complexity of the relationship between Greece and Turkey; two antagonistic NATO allies. The forward has been written by Sir Lawrence Freedman the official historian of the Falklands war and a member of the 2009 United Kingdom Iraq War inquiry.