November 16
Failing to join the European Union, many Balkan countries devastated by wars, corruption, lack of democracy and a poor economy are forced to seek allies elsewhere. The offer is very diversified: Turkey, Russia, China, United States, NATO and Islamic States. The Balkans are interested in investment and diplomatic support. All other countries seem interested in long-term geostrategic domination and influence peddling.
Unlike Russia with its anti-NATO and anti-EU positions, Turkey is the one that has been campaigning in both directions for a very long time. Apparently, thanks to Russia, things have changed a little. It seems that the new friendships born from the war in Syria have also affected the Balkans.
“Turkey will continue to support Bosnia and Herzegovina’s commitment to Europe,” said Cevdet Yilmaz, vice president of the AKP party, during his visit last month to Sarajevo. This was the very first time that a Turkish official did not mention NATO as well as the EU. The obvious turnaround in Turkish foreign policy corresponds exactly to Russian interests: distancing from the EU, NATO and the United States as well as their common hostility towards the West.
In terms of economy, Turkish companies have so far invested more than three billion US dollars in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Kosovo, Albania, Mount Black and North Macedonia. In terms of diplomacy, Turkey is poised to utilize all the benefits of the communist legacy. So, how far will servility towards the former invaders go?
This goes as far as Balkan leaders, inclined to glorify dictators, disobeying court rulings that protect Turkish citizens, most of them asylum seekers after the failed 2016 coup. The president Turkish Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly requested the extradition of people listed as Gulenists.
“Turkey has certain demands and this issue was not raised this time, it was also discussed when we were in Ankara,” confirmed the chairman of the Bosnian presidency, Milorad Dodik, in July after the visit of ‘Erdogan in Sarajevo. Two months later, Bosnian authorities canceled the residence permits of a group of Turks. Kosovo and Serbia have also done the same without any legal extradition procedure. In Monte Negro, a trial is still ongoing.
Finally, the United States recognized the high level of Turkish and Russian threats in the region. In the past two months, she named experienced career diplomat Matthew Palmer as the new U.S. special representative to the Western Balkans and her top diplomatic representative in Germany, Richard Grenell, as the new special envoy for negotiations between Serbia and Kosovo in order to restore the White House. role as the main constructive actor in the region.