An overview of Turkish foreign policy in the Balkans: 1990-2016.

• Author: Harxhi, Edith
• Position: COMMENTARY - Essay

ABSTRACT The reforming of Turkish foreign policy in the Balkans was a process that started at the end of the Cold War and with the disintegration of Yugoslavia. Turkey started reinventing its role in the geopolitical scene by standing strong to its national interests, opening up to new relations, strengthening old ones and taking a more secure place in the international arena. 25 years after, Turkey has not only earned the position of a strong player in the Balkans but has also become a regional regulator and mediator. Some suspiciously see it as a "neo-Ottoman" approach.

Since the end of the Cold War, Turkey has been largely regarded as a very important world actor and this comes not only due to shifts in the geopolitical scene and the creation of new axes regarding the western alliances since the fall of the Berlin wall, but also due to Turkey's striking economic, political and social development from the beginning of the 1990's onwards. During this period, of more than 25 years, not only has the international order changed, but together with this new actors have emerged to taken a solid place in the international arena where alongside Turkey. Together with the changing world order Turkish foreign policy has also changed, reshaped at different stages, following not only the major world historical events but also its internal politics.

In general, Turkish foreign policy has been characterized at times Kemalist, at times Conservative and at times a mixture of both. Mainly designed by a Kemalist school of diplomacy with strong elements of a modern and reformist approach, where national interest is in the forefront of its formulation and the balance of power one of its main characteristics, Turkish foreign policy started its real era of transformation at the end of the Cold War. In fact, modern Turks could not very well understand the problems and the nature of communism in the Eastern bloc. This is even though a type of Marxist approach or Marxist philosophy has always existed and been the case in Turkish political thinking especially within the Kemalist groups which have not only been represented just by left or center left in Turkey but also by a very good portion of center right. Kemalism is a tradition, philosophy and way of life that as Philip Robins writes in his paper "Turkish foreign policy since 2002," predates the period of the Kemalist movement in Turkey and it derives from the period of the great reforms of the Ottoman Empire in the 19th century. This direction has also set the tone of the Turkish government's foreign policy until the early 1990's. Although not understood well ideologically by the average Turkish citizen, as being left-wing was seen as being progressive for many Turks while regressive for many eastern Europeans of the early 1990's, the end of the communist regimes brought a wave of economic benefits for Turkey which was very well utilized by successive governments. Not only did it result in a sudden expansion of the Turkish markets in the Eastern bloc, which was craving for foreign goods at the cheaper price that Turkey readily offered, but the people in the respective countries were also very keen to travel freely abroad after many years of isolation and Turkey offered security, diversity in culture and cheaper commodities.

In 1992 the statement of President Turgut Ozal "Three important areas have opened in front of Turkey: the Balkans, the Caucasus and the Middle East" laid the path to some very important regional agreements between Turkey and the Balkan countries. The same year, the visionary leader of Turkey Ozal, conceived in Turkey the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Agreement and Council which also included countries from the Balkans, and in November of the same year a large Balkan summit which convened in Ankara brought together for the first time leaders from the Balkans. Reinventing Turkish foreign policy in the new post-Cold War era, meant a new role for Turkey in the region as a regional player and actor which could easily make up for a missing "big brother" which shared common values, democratic interests, cultural and historical heritage and could offer a fresh new market for the newly independent states. The Balkans were the ones to share the most of the new Turkish experience while also rediscovering the historical ties with the direct descendants of the Ottoman Empire.

As Turkey was trying to give a new orientation to its foreign policy towards "the new world order," by showing a more proactive approach to the new post-communist countries north, west and south, the war in Yugoslavia broke. Initially, Turkey resisted any support for the disintegration of former...