As neighbouring countries, Turkey and Greece share an extensive past. Their historical ties date back to the fourteenth century and to the Ottoman Empire's conquest of Constantinople in 1453. However, the beginning of their contemporary relationship can be traced back to the early nineteenth century, when Greece became a sovereign and independent state as result of its struggle against the Ottoman Empire. This historical background between the two nations has always shaped the priorities on both countries’ foreign and security policy agendas.

Historically, one may identify the Turkish–Greek relationship as a vicious cycle of improvement and deterioration. Both nations view each other as a ‘source of threat’ or as ‘enemy’, a mutual perception that mainly stems from the historical context. Although the problems between them have generally been interpreted through the lenses of security, politics and, to some extent, economics, it would be naive to over-estimate the burden of the past – the main source of feelings of enmity and mistrust. History, thus, has conceivably played a significant role in shaping not only their foreign policies but also their national identities. Historical legacies and feelings of mutual antipathy between Turkey and Greece have also influenced their bilateral relationship and the mindsets of decision-makers ever since the two nation-states were founded. As such, an understanding of the nature and present state of the Turkish–Greek relationship would be incomplete without its historical context. As Gurel (1993a, 10) has pointed out, for both Greece and Turkey, ‘[h]istory is not past, [since] the past continues to live in the present’.

Likewise, Clogg (1980, 141), noting the impact of historical heritage on national identity and historical consciousness, has written: