United Kingdom |
Greece |
Greece and the United Kingdom share membership of the European Union and NATO, but the issue of the Elgin Marbles removed from the Parthenon by the Earl of Elgin in 1806 and still housed in the British Museum has not been resolved.
Contents |
Despite Britain's desperate struggle to become the protectorate of Cyrpus ahead of other nations like France, the British blocked Cyprus joining with Greece (Enosis) despite previously allowing the United States of the Ionian Islands to join with Greece. The reason for this was that the British wished to keep their massive military bases (Akrotiri and Dhekelia) on this strategic island intact .. 371 British servicemen lost their lives on the island between 1956 and 1959 as the Cypriots fought the British for independence.[1] During the Turkish invasion of Cyprus and occupation of Cyprus, the British simply stood and watched the Turkish troops invade the Island having previously warned them not to touch the British bases in any way, These events strained relations between Greece and the UK.
Greece has been locked for over 20 years in a conflict with the neighbouring Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) over its name, which Greece refuses to recognise. While the EU, and the majority of its member states, have formally maintain the compromise provisional naming solution of "former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia", the UK in 1999 decided to recognise the state under its self-chosen name, as the "Republic of Macedonia".[2] This damaged relations between Greece and the UK.
See also: Macedonia naming dispute
Britain supported Greece in the Greek War of Independence from the Ottoman Empire in the 1820s with the Treaty of Constantinople being ratified at the London Conference of 1832.
In 1850, the British Foreign Secretary Lord Palmerston sent a Royal Navy squadron to Greece over the Pacifico incident.
When the Greek King Otto was deposed by the Greeks in 1862, Queen Victoria's son Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha was chosen to succeed him. However, the British government would not allow this. The current British monarch Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom's husband Prince Philip is the grandson of Otto's eventual successor George I of Greece.
Great Britain wrested control of the Ionian Islands from Napoleonic France in 1815. As the "United States of the Ionian Islands", they remained under British control, even after Greek Independence (partly because Greece's first, German king caused concern in London). However, in 1864, Britain responded to calls for enosis by transferring the Islands to Greece.
In 2000, Stephen Saunders, the British military attaché in Athens, was murdered by motorcycle gunmen who were members of Revolutionary Organization 17 November. The investigation that followed led to an unprecedented level of co-operation between Greek and UK Police services, who achieved, following a lengthy investigation the arrest of members of 17N who were then brought to trial.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||