Greece's membership in NATO and the EU brings with it active participation in Western defense organizations and activities connected with those organizations. In the 1990s Greece took an increasingly active role, in proportion to its resources, in peacekeeping and arms control around the world.

United Nations Peacekeeping

Greece has been generally supportive of UN peacekeeping operations. In the Korean War, the first UN military action, Greece contributed one infantry battalion and one air transport squadron. More recently Greek military personnel have participated in the United Nations Operation in Somalia (UNOSOM) and other missions in Kuwait, Northern Iraq, Western Sahara, and the former Yugoslavia. Through the end of 1994, Greece chose not to contribute troops to the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR) in Bosnia and Herzegovina, arguing that participation by any Balkan country or former colonial power would have a destabilizing effect. Greece has, however, contributed one major combat vessel to Operation Sharp Guard, the UN's offshore observation force in the Adriatic Sea. In 1994 the Greek Ministry of National Defense declared the country's readiness to contribute troops to a new peacekeeping force in the Middle East if peace negotiations between Israel and Syria are successful and require international border monitors. Greece is also considering participation in UN peacekeeping forces maintaining cease-fires between Georgian and Abkhazian forces in Abkhazia and between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces in Nagorno-Karabakh, as well as assisting in an eventual withdrawal of UN forces from Bosnia. Greece has also borne the second-largest share of the expenses of the UN's Force in Cyprus (FICYP), contributing about US$7.5 million of the estimated total expense of US$52.5 in 1994.

Data as of December 1994

NOTE: The information regarding Greece on this page is re-published from The Library of Congress Country Studies and the CIA World Factbook. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Greece United Nations Peacekeeping information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Greece United Nations Peacekeeping should be addressed to the Library of Congress and the CIA.