Realpolitik in the Eastern Mediterranean : from Kissinger and the Cyprus Crisis to Carter and the lifting of the Turkish arms embargo /

The title of this volume accurately describes the subject matter. Approximately one-third of the volume deals with the coup in Cyprus sponsored by the Greek military dictatorship in 1974 and the resulting Turkish military intervention that divided the unhappy island. The remainder of the volume contrasts presidential candidate Jimmy Carter's promise to the Greek-American community in 1976 to maintain the American embargo on arms sales to Turkey with President Carter's successful attempt in 1978 to have Congress repeal it. The material supports the contention that President Carter broke his word about maintaining the embargo and provides ample evidence why he did it. Henry Kissinger and Jimmy Carter receive the greatest criticism, but almost no actor in the Cyprus drama appears in a favorable light except Greek Prime Minister Constantine Karamanlis. Ioannides' preference for the Greek positions regarding Cyprus over those of Turkey is as clear as the presence of the Greek views and the absence of the Turkish views in the extensive appendixes. For general readers, undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty. J. M. Scolnick Jr. University of Virginia's College at Wise