Analysis - Post “zero problems with neighbours” in the Western Balkans - A view from Serbia
Analysis - Post “zero problems with neighbours” in the Western Balkans - A view from Serbia

Author(s): Igor Novaković, Jovana Bogosavljević, Natan Albahari
Subject(s): Politics / Political Sciences, Politics, International relations/trade, EU-Approach / EU-Accession / EU-Development, Geopolitics
Published by: ISAC - Centar za međunarodne i bezbednosne poslove
Keywords: Turkish Foreign Policy; Western Balkans; Ahmet Davutoğlu; European Integration; Turkey–Western Balkans Relations
Summary/Abstract: Guided by the then-Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Ahmet Davutoglu, at begging of this decade Turkish foreign policy aimed to implement a fresh and dynamic approach that would change the country’s position in the wider region. Dr. Davutoglu’s vision was backed up by Turkey’s impressive economic growth and was implemented in a very different international context to that of the Cold War. As an academic, in his book “Strategic Depth,” Dr. Davutoglu had urged decision makers in Turkey to reject the notion that the country was on the frontier of the Western world and to assert itself based on its historical legacy, geopolitical position and economic weight. He argued that Turkey should become the centre of its own wider region by using soft power and its inherited historic potential. This potential was said to lay in the fact that modern Turkey’s predecessor, the Ottoman Empire, was a centre of civilization in its own right, which gave greater significance to its peripheral territories than they would have otherwise had. In practical terms, particularly in the Balkans, there is a significant Muslim population in several states, which continues, more or less, to look up to Turkey and maintains numerous connections, including family ties with Turkish citizens and descendants of people who had migrated to the Balkans. Finally, Dr. Davutoglu argued, Turkey was a crucial NATO member and possessed one of the largest armies in the Alliance. Thus, Dr. Davutoglu concluded, Turkey had the potential to foster a proactive policy that would result in “zero problems with neighbours” and renew Turkey’s position at the centre of the wider region. With the rise to power of Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP) and subsequent economic growth, Dr. Davutoglu got his chance to implement his vision.

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