The Eastern Mediterranean has a profoundly rich but troubled history. The histories of Greece and Turkey have been closely entwined over many centuries. Both have undergone major social changes, with the economic development of Turkey being a particularly welcome phenomenon in the past 10–20 years, while Greece, after a period of unprecedented growth and prosperity, is currently undergoing a destructive economic crisis, with adverse consequences for mental health and increasing rates of suicide.
On the evidence of the two papers published here, social and economic development in these countries has been associated with initiatives in law to safeguard the rights of people with a mental illness, with Greece having adopted relevant legislation to conform with United Nations and European Union standards, and Turkey, a nation aspiring to join the European Union, being on the brink of doing so. However, the routine use of emergency orders and the lack of due process in practice in Greece, even in times of plenty, are both worrying and reprehensible, and the hope must be that in both Greece and Turkey safeguards to ensure implementation of the spirit of the law will be seen as a priority and be put in place, and resources allocated to make this possible, irrespective of economic conditions.