FOREIGN POLICY OF TURKEY REGARDING THE COUNTRIES OF THE BALKAN REGION IN THE POST-DAVUTOĞLU ERA (2016–2020)

Olha Motsiiaka,

Ph.D. student,

The State Institution «Institute of World History of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine», Kyiv, Ukraine

 

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17721/2524-048X.2024.29.12

 

Abstract.

The article analyzes the peculiarities of Turkey’s political influence on the countries of the Balkan region in the period 2016–2020. The internal prerequisites and reasons for the change in Ankara’s geopolitical tactics and the place of the Balkans in it are revealed. It is emphasized which countries of the region played a primary role for Turkey, and which were in the background. The author examines the formats and mechanisms of interaction between Turkey and the Balkans (both new and improved), shows changes in the nature of Turkey’s foreign policy through the prism of internal reasons in the country itself.

The author comes to the conclusion that, in contrast to the previous years of the Justice and Development Party, the period 2016–2020 is characterized by specificity, which, in particular, is due to the departure from the political activity of A. Davutoğlu, the maximum concentration of political power in the hands of the current president of Turkey («еrdoğanism»), the dominance of pragmatism, economic expediency in international relations. At the same time, the attempts in Ankara’s European integration progress through the Balkan region were reduced to a minimum, although Turkish politicians never stated this directly. Relations with the Balkan region were also affected by the failed coup of 2016, after which R.T. Erdoğan began searching for possible accomplices of his political opponent F. Gülen all over the world, including the Balkans. The article reveals in detail the peculiarity of Turkey’s relations with the countries of the Balkan region precisely through the prism of their attitude to the political opposition of R.T. Erdoğan.

The article highlights numerous personal relationships of R.T. Erdoğan with the heads of the Balkan states, which became a new and extremely important feature of this period. We are primarily talking about Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, Kosovo President Hashim Thaci and Bosnian Muslim Presidium member Bakir Izetbegović. In Erdoğan’s foreign policy during 2016–2020, the Balkans, as before, occupied a prominent place.

Keywords: Turkey, Balkans, R.T. Erdoğan, «Erdoğanism», «Gülenism», international relations, foreign policy.

 

Submitted 14.08.2024

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