Could a Greek-Turkish Confederation revive the lost glory of the Byzantine and Ottoman Empires?

Ideas & Philosophy · Published 3 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: Dimitri Kitsikis was a provocative geopolitical thinker who envisioned a unified Greek-Turkish state. By bridging the cultural and religious divide between Athens and Ankara, he believed this 'Intermediate Region' could fill the power vacuum left by the collapse of the great empires that once dominated the East Mediterranean.

Dimitri Kitsikis (1935–2021) was a polymathic scholar of international relations, geopolitics, and history, holding professorships at the University of Ottawa and various Turkish institutions. A member of a prominent Greek intellectual family, his life was marked by global movement and intellectual rebellion. After being expelled from a French university for his involvement in the 1968 student revolts as a Maoist, he eventually settled into a career that challenged the established historiography of his homeland.

Central to his work was the concept of the 'Intermediate Region,' a civilizational space stretching from the Adriatic to the Indus. Kitsikis argued that the long-standing antagonism between Greece and Turkey was an artificial construct, proposing instead a 'Hellenoturkism' that would unite the two nations. He sought to ground this union in the shared history of the Byzantine and Ottoman Empires, even suggesting that the Alevi-Bektashi roots of the Ottoman dynasty could be reconciled with Orthodox Christianity to form a new political foundation.

His ideas were deeply controversial in Greece, where he challenged traditional narratives—such as the 'secret school' myth—that framed the Ottoman period solely as a time of enslavement. Kitsikis was not merely an academic; he acted as an advisor to high-level figures, including Greek Premier Konstantinos Karamanlis and Turkish President Turgut Özal. His influence extended to former Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, who was his student. Despite his academic standing, Kitsikis remained a polarizing figure, often aligning with unconventional political movements and maintaining a lifelong commitment to the idea that a restored, ecumenical imperial model was the key to regional stability.

Beyond geopolitics, Kitsikis was a published poet and a founder of 'Photohistory.' He remained a fierce defender of the Greek language, arguing that it should be preserved in its traditional, polytonic form. His legacy persists through the Dimitri Kitsikis Public Foundation in Athens, which preserves his archives and continues to promote his vision of a unified, culturally rich region that transcends the limitations of the modern nation-state.

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