CHRIS P. IOANNIDES, Realpolitik in the Eastern Mediterranean: From Kissinger and the Cyprus Crisis to Carter and the Lifting of the Turkish Arms Embargo (New York: Pella Publishing, 2001). Pp. 523. $30.00 paper.

Extract

This is a welcome addition to the literature on American foreign policy, the Cyprus crisis of 1974, and the implications the crisis had for American politics and the triangle of American–Greek–Turkish relations. It provides an in-depth analysis of the events that led to the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in July 1974 and examines how the Watergate scandal prevented the United States from playing a constructive role in the eastern Mediterranean. The author argues that, while the White House was virtually paralyzed and President Richard Nixon was preoccupied with his struggle to stay in power, Secretary of State Henry Kissinger mishandled the Cyprus crisis. Ioannides's thesis is that the absence of presidential leadership and authority affected the conduct of foreign policy, with grave consequences for U.S. interests in the region.