 Greece also sent an ambassador to Jerusalem during this period, but refrained from granting full recognition to balance its relations with the Arab states.In the 1990s, efforts were made to improve ties between the two countries and a defense cooperation agreement was signed.However, tensions existed, due to Greece's traditional support of the Palestinians, Greek favoritism towards the Arabs and support of Palestinian political violence, (particularly under the Prime Ministry of Andreas Papandreou, 1981–89 and 1993–96), as well as Israeli military cooperation with Turkey and controversies over the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate in Jerusalem.