Turkey in its quest for more power over Balkans

by, Blendi LAMI

Abstract

Turkey is currently a major player in the Balkans, as it is continuously trying to expand its sphere of influence. As part of its foreign policy strategy, Turkey is developing common interests in the region. European Union has changed its policy toward Turkey and, at the same time, Turkey constantly challenges Europe. As history tells us, Balkans have been battleground for clashes of different powers. Turkey is increasing becoming a powerful actor that has to be taken into consideration, even though in the Balkan area it is showing certain limits. The qualitative method is used in the study, referring to secondary data, as it relies on various critical journals entailing Turkish politics, foreign policy and international relations. The study focuses on two main areas: economic relationships and religious influence, through which Turkey is trying to project power into the Balkans. The paper tries to test the hypothesis that economic struggles and Balkans orientation toward European Union have prevented Turkey in fully achieving their goal.

How to cite: Lami, B. (2019). Turkey in its quest for more power over Balkans. Polis, 18(2), 5–19.

https://doi.org/10.58944/uyvy1629