Did Turkey ever invade Greece

Answer 1

Answer

Yes. The first attempt that could be considered as invation was in 1897, and ended in a complete disaster for the Greek army.

The second were the Balkan Wars in 1911 and 1912, were a coalition of Greek, Serb and Bulgarian forces invaded the Ottoman empire and nearly doubled their size.

The third invasion took place in Asia Minor between the years 1921-1922. After the Treaty of Lossane, Greece was given a large area to control around Smyrna (modern day Izmir). A change in government though took place and the new political party decided to invade Turkey even further. The Greek army reached Ankara, but the Turkish army regrouped and successfully counterattacked.

The result was that nearly 3000 years of Greek history ended in Asia Minor, since the Turkish armies sought revenge on the civilian population. The conflict ended with the two countries ex-changing populations and signing a peace treaty.

The most disasterous conflict between the two states took place in 1974 in Cyprus. Greece lay under a military junta supported by the United States. Through a series of diplomatic mistakes, Greece tried to overthrow the President of Independent Cyprus (since 1960), but failed. Turkey invaded the island claiming to protect the Muslim Minority. The situation remains unresolved to this day.

Answer 2

Yes. Greece was part of the Ottoman Empire from the capture of Constantinople in 1453 until it liberated itself in 1821.