Assessment at Different Levels of “the Other” and “Us” Perception in Turco-Greek Relationship

“The other” is one who is different or is differently defined than “I/us”. Within the theory of social identity, the other creates the images alongside with it for it is usually embedded with prejudices and stereotypes. Thus, “the other” and “image” are two intermingled concepts. The other’s image is also connected with our identity. The meaning loaded onto “the other” refers to the situations which we do not prefer and this mostly stems from our approaches containing our prejudices. To put it differently, “the other” is the mirrored version of “I”. Within the axis of Turkey and Greece, the ‘Other’ aspect is an important issue to be examined. During formation of national identities both countries developed the ‘Other’ with negative images and created general feelings within each country towards the other. This situation played an active role in the formation of the perception of the hostile image in both communities during several generations. Thus, both societies having similar and even common features have developed the ‘Other’ and hostile image by means of such prejudices.