Turkey and the Balkans: Overcoming Prejudices, Building Bridges and Constructing a Common Future

Turkey is a historically important regional actor and is trying to contribute to the establishment of a peaceful and secure environment in the Balkans. The region has had a salient place in the Turkish foreign policy agenda in the last two decades. In the 1990s Ankara started to play a considerable role by developing initiatives that aimed at contributing to the end of the conflicts there. This paper analyses Turkey’s regional policies in the last decade in order to understand the main continuities and changes. The main research question of the study is as follows: Has there been any considerable change in Turkey’s relations with the Balkan countries? The study has two fundamental arguments: First, although the main aims of Turkish foreign policy remain the same, there are now different instruments that have been implemented to an increasing degree. Second, relations have been transnationalising thanks to the spillover effects of globalisation

___

  • Barry Buzan, Ole Wæver, and Jaap de Wilde, Security: A New Framework for Analysis, Boulder, Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1998.
  • Andrew Linklater, “Neorealism in Theory and Practice”, in Ken Booth and Steve Smith (eds.), International Relations Theory Today, Cambridge, Polity Press, 1995, p. 248.
  • Birgül Demirtaş-Coşkun, “Systemic Changes and State Identity: Turkish and German Responses”, Insight Turkey, Vol. 10, No. 1 (2008), pp. 31-54.
  • Şaban Çalış, Hayalet Bilimi ve Hayali Kimlikler, Neo-Osmanlılık, Özal ve Balkanlar, Konya, Çizgi Kitabevi, 2001.
  • Maria Todorova, “The Ottoman Legacy in the Balkans”, in L. Carl Brown (ed.), Imperial Legacy The Ottoman Imprint on the Balkans and the Middle East, New York, Columbia University Press, 1996, p. 54.
  • Peter Sugar, Southeastern Europe under Ottoman Rule, 1354-1804, Seattle and London, University of Washington Press, 1977, p. 283.
  • Ferenc A. Váli, Bridge Across the Bosphorus: The Foreign Policy of Turkey, Baltimore and London, The Johns Hopkins Press, 1971, p. 197.
  • Barbara Jelavich, History of the Balkans-Vol. 2, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1983, p. 105; Klaus Steinke, “Die Türken und die Balkanküche, Kulinarisches und Sprachliches aus Bulgarien und Rumänien”, Südosteuropa Mitteilungen, Vol. 30, No. 1 (1990), pp. 65-71.
  • Barbara Jelavich, History of the Balkans-Vol. 1, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1983, p. 1.
  • Jelavich, History of the Balkans- Vol. 2, pp. 104-105.
  • Gencer Özcan, “Continuity and Change in Turkish Foreign Policy in the Balkans”, in Günay Göksu Özdoğan and Kemâli Saybaşılı (eds.), The Balkans: A Mirror of the New International Order, İstanbul, Eren, 1995, p. 285.
  • Váli, Bridge Across the Bosphorus, p. 203; Özcan, “Continuity and Change”, p. 288.
  • For a study on the evolution of Turkish foreign policy during the Bosnian War see, Birgül Demirtaş-Coşkun, Turkey, Germany and the Wars in Yugoslavia: A Search for Reconstruction of State Identities, Berlin, Logos, 2006, pp. 173-228.
  • Metin Toker, “Doğru bir Dış Politikanın Helsinki’de Meyveleri”, Milliyet, 12 July 1992.
  • ‘Devlet Krizi’”, Boğaziçi Üniversitesi-TÜSİAD Dış Politika Forumu, Araştırma Raporu, at
  • http://www.academia.edu/2483167/Kriz_Sarmalinda_Bosna-Hersek_Devlet_Krizi_ [last visited 1 March 2013].
  • Republic of Turkey Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “Balkan Ülkeleri ile İlişkiler”, at http://www. mfa.gov.tr/balkanlar_ile-iliskiler.tr.mfa [last visited 1 March 2013].
  • İstanbul Triletaral Summit Declaration, İstanbul, 24 April 2010, at http://www.seecp-turkey. org/icerik.php?no=60 [last visited 22 February 2012].
  • Sami Kohen, “Balkanlar’da Yeni Bir Başlangıç”, Milliyet, 27 April 2010.
  • The text of the declaration is at http://srebrenica-genocide.blogspot.com/2010/04/text-of- declaration-on-srebrenica.html [last visited 18 December 2012].
  • İnan Rüma, “Turkish Foreign Policy towards the Balkans: Overestimated Change within Underestimated Continuity”, in Özden Zeynep Oktav (ed.), Turkey in the 21st Century: Quest for a New Foreign Policy, Aldershot, Ashgate, 2011, p. 135-157.
  • “Minister Dincer Views Serbia as Turkey’s Important Partner in the Balkans”, Anatolian News Agency, via World News Connection, 24 September 2010.
  • For a comprehensive analysis of evolution of Turkish foreign policy toward the issue of Kosovo independence see, Birgül Demirtaş-Coşkun, “Kosova’nın Bağımsızlığı ve Türk Dış Politikası (1990-2008)”, Uluslararası İlişkiler, Vol. 7, No 27 (Fall 2010), pp. 51-86.
  • Charles F. Hermann, “Changing Course: When Governments Choose to Redirect Foreign Policy”, International Studies Quarterly, Vol. 34, No. 1 (March 1990), pp. 3-21.
  • Žarko Petrović and Dušan Reljić, “Turkish Interests and Involvement in Western Balkans: A Score-Card”, Insight Turkey, Vol. 13, No. 3 (2011), p. 169.
  • “Turkey in the Balkans- The Good Old Days”, Economist, 5 November 2011.
  • Kemal Kirişçi, “The Transformation of Turkish Foreign Policy: The Rise of the Trading State”, New Perspectives on Turkey, No. 40 (Spring 2009), pp. 29-56.
  • “Ziraat Bankası: Kapımızı Çalan Yunanistan ve Balkanlar’daki Bankalarla 2011’de El Sıkışırız”, Vatan, 5 June 2010.
  • Republic of Turkey Ministry of Economy, “Balkans Regional Information”, at http://www. economy.gov.tr/index.cfm?sayfa=countriesandregions®ion=9 [last visited 22 December 2012].
  • “Türkçe’nin Resmi Müfredatlara Girişi”, Yunus Emre Enstitüsü, at http://yunusemreenstitusu. org/turkiye/index.php?lang=tr&page=66&anIIcat_1=0&anIIitm_1=34, [last visited 1 March 2013].
  • Kerem Öktem, “Between Emigration, De-Islamization and the Nation-State: Muslim communities in the Balkans”, Southeast European and Black Sea Studies, Vol. 11, No. 2 (June 2011), pp. 151–169.
  • “Binlerce Yabancı Öğrenci ‘Türkiye Bursları’ Projesi ile Türkiye’de”, at http://kdk.gov.tr/ sayilarla/turkiye-burslari-projesi/7 [last visited 1 March 2013].
  • E-mail correspondence with the officials at the Presidency for Turks Abroad and Related Communities.
  • “Balkanlar Bölge Müdürlüğü Hizmete Giriyor”, Anadolu Ajansı, at http://www.aa.com.tr/ tr/s/58--balkanlar-b--lge-mudurlugu-hizmete-giriyor [last visited 1 March 2013].
  • Kemal Kirişçi, “Turkey’s Engagement with Its Neighborhood: A ‘Synthetic’ and Multidimensional Look at Turkey’s Foreign Policy Transformation”, Turkish Studies, Vol. 13, No. 3 (September 2012), pp. 1-23.
  • Republic of Turkey Ministry of Culture and Tourism, at http://www.ktbyatirimisletmeler. gov.tr/TR,9854/sinir-giris-cikis-istatistikleri.html [last visited 1 March 2013].
  • “Bereket’in ilk Durağı Mostar”, at http://www.bayrampasa.bel.tr/icerik.asp?is=118q1295q10 q1118q1116q10q12q1hadq1qpis [last visited 1 March 2013].
  • Ivana Jovanovic and Menekse Tokyay, “TV Series Fosters Balkan, Turkey Relations”, Southeast Times, at http://www.setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/en_GB/features/setimes/ features/2012/12/21/feature-04 [last visited 21 December 2012].
PERCEPTIONS: Journal of International Affairs-Cover
  • ISSN: 1300-8641
  • Yayın Aralığı: Yılda 2 Sayı
  • Başlangıç: 1996
  • Yayıncı: T.C Dışişleri Bakanlığı