Turkey and the Balkans: New Forms of Political Community?

Abstract

This article analyzes recent Turkish activism in the Balkans from the standpoint of political community. Drawing on but expanding Karl Deutsch's original concept allows us to explore the goals and actions of Turkish policy in the region. Multiple overlapping communities, some embryonic, can be seen to frame Turkish action. These include cultural/ethnic, security, European Union (EU) candidate, EU alternative, business and Islamic communities. Viewing Turkish policies this way offers analytical leverage that highlights the aims and dynamics of Turkish policies as well as possible outcomes of Turkish foreign policy actions in the Balkans.

Notes

†An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 8th Convention of the Central and East European International Studies Association, Kadir Has University, İstanbul, Turkey, June 15–17, 2011

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If, on the other hand, a Balkan state's relations with Greece seem to be an important part of the equation in Turkish policy, that is eligible for consideration.

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According to the latest statistics as of early May 2013, the Disaster and Emergency Management Agency of Government of Turkey announced the total number of Syrians registered and accommodated in Turkey to be 192,429 with the actual number estimated as much more than this figure.

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Estimates range from 32,000 to 100,000 out of a population of 22 million. See Ethno-demographic structure of Romania, Structure by Ethnicity, 2002, Ethnocultural Diversity Resource Center, http://www.edrc.ro/recensamant.jsp?regiune_id=0&judet_id=0, for the lower figure; the larger was offered to one of the authors (Linden) by head of Turkish Community in Romania in an interview in 2007.

The 2001 Bulgarian census put the figure at 746,664. See Bulgarian Census, Population by Districts and Ethnic Group, http://www.nsi.bg/Census_e/Ethnos.htm.

For background see, Anagnostou, “Nationalist Legacies and European Trajectories,” 89–111.

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For a discussion of this process, see Hayden, “The Continuing Reinvention of the Square Wheel,” 3–16.

For a discussion of Bosnian Serb objections to Turkish involvement, see Türbedar, “Turkey's New Activism”.

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“Zafer Çağlayan: Makedonya ile Ticaretimizi 1 Milyar Dolara Çıkartacağız”, February 2, 2012, http://www.haberler.com/zafer-caglayan-makedonya-ile-ticaretimizi-1-milyar-3324420-haberi/. “Başbakan Yardımcısı Bekir Bozdağ Makedonya'da TİKA projelerinin açılışlarını gerçekleştirdi”, July 3, 2012, http://www.tika.gov.tr/haber/basbakan-yardimcisi-bekir-bozdag-makedonyada-tika-projelerinin-acilislarini-gerceklestirdi/328.

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