Throughout the modern history of Turkish–Greek relations, which dates back as far as to the early nineteenth century, both countries have constructed their national identities in opposition to each other, encumbered by the burden of their past. As the two countries gained their independence by fighting each other, the historical legacy and mutual antipathy between the two nations have had a significant impact on both public perception and the mind-set of decision-makers. This impact has been reflected in both public and elite surveys that are regularly conducted in both countries. As already mentioned, public surveys are useful to capture public perception, which helps to better understand the public's sensitivity. According to one public survey, which has been conducted regularly by a group of scholars since 2010, the Turkish public has considered Greece a threat, even though its ranking has constantly changed in parallel with the up and downs in bilateral relations. In 2020, 49.5 percent of the Turkish public – which presents an increase from 44.5 percent in 2019 – responded that they perceived Greece as a threat to its security (Aydın et al., 2021, 76–77). As 2020 has been the most challenging year – or, in the words of Kirişci (2021a, 3), annus horribilis – for bilateral relations because of the emergent crises, measuring the public perception is quite valuable to comprehend these crises’ repercussions on public opinion in both countries. The Hellenic Foundation for Foreign and European Policy (ELIAMEP) in partnership with diaNEOsis and the Istanbul Policy Centre conducted the first joint public survey in Greece and Turkey between 19 and 21 February 2021, with the participation of 1,022 Greek and 1,142 Turkish citizens. According to this survey, the bilateral disputes in the Aegean and Mediterranean emerged as the most severe problems, in parallel with the tension in the summer of 2020. What is promising in this research is that the majority of both Greeks (59 percent) and Turks (70 percent) believe that the disputes between the two can be resolved more easily through dialogue and conciliation (Grigoriadis, 2021). However, both countries’ decision-makers have preferred to keep in view the historical background of conflict.