Looking at the majority of Greco-Turkish encounters in history and modern politics, people tend to believe that Turks always hated Greeks and vice versa. An important fact to remember is that the two countries enjoyed an impressive degree of cooperation following the Turkish War of Independence (1919-1923), until the Cyprus Crisis in the 1950s. Having beaten the Greeks in the War of Independence, the Turkish leadership decided not to press further. A Greece in tatters could certainly yield some benefits to Turkey; in the form of some touristic islands and in incorporating the Turkish-majority West Thrace region, for instance. But it would also draw new, more dangerous and ambitious powers to the region, Italy and Bulgaria. Turkish support to Greece is, therefore, inseparably linked to the country’s feeling threatened by the revisionism of Italians and their Bulgarian allies (the king of whom, Boris, was married to the daughter of the Italian king in 1930). Also linked to this perceived threat was the formation of the Balkan Entente, a defensive alliance, in 1934 by Turkey, Greece, Romania, and Yugoslavia. That there were (quite probably accurate) reports that Bulgarians wanted to redraw the Turkish-Bulgarian border in Thrace to their advantage did not help.