Balkans between two worlds: Turkey and Europe

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Balkans between two worlds: Turkey and Europe	Monday, 10 October 2011 18:38		Mesut Ãdriz		Geo-ontologically the Balkans falls at the crossroads between the heartlands of Turkey's Anatolia and Europe.Normally
 Greece, Slovenia and to some extent Romania try to avoid being placed 
within the socio-conceptual and contextual expression referred to as the
 Balkans. Nevertheless, all the countries within the historic peninsula 
are undoubtedly considered the Balkans.In terms of geo-cultural 
and religious divide, on the one hand, Muslims adopt and follow the Near
 Eastern influence while on the other non-Muslims, and Christians in 
particular, expect the assistance of Europeans, Slavic and post-Soviet 
in particular. In recent years, there has been a clash of interests in 
the Balkans from both powerful worlds, Turkey and Europe (particularly 
with reference to the countries of the European Union and Russia). This 
can be felt in almost all the Balkan countries, but particularly in the 
former Yugoslav states.In the last couple of years, the region 
has experienced many interstate visits and heavy diplomacy traffic from 
both European countries and Turkey. This was not in low-level visits but
 visits from top state and government officials. During the past few 
months, these visits, among many others, were seen from German 
Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, in 
addition to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan, Deputy Prime 
Ministers Bülent Arýnç and Bekir Bozdað, Foreign Affairs Minister Ahmet 
Davutoðlu, EU Minister and Chief Negotiator Egemen Baðýþ and Education 
Minister Ömer Dinçer.These visits are not considered ordinary. On
 the contrary, for some analysts they seem more "alarming" as they 
signal that there are great political and socioeconomic "battles," if we
 may say, between the quickly re-emerging eastern superpower that is 
Turkey and the established Western superpowers of Europe.According
 to the moves of their political leaders and business corporations, 
Europeans and Russians play roles mainly on the socioeconomic level, 
aiming to achieve regional control of Serbia, Bulgaria, Greece, 
Montenegro, Republika Srpska in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mitrovica in 
Kosovo, eastern Macedonia and southern Albania.Yet Turks, with 
their powerful investments in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, Kosovo, 
the region of Sandzak in Serbia, and Macedonia, are reviving 
"pan-Ottomanism" with geo-cultural strategies, particularly in regions 
where the populations are themselves Muslim. During his recent official 
visit to Turkey, Serbian Minister of Agriculture, Trade, Forestry and 
Water Management Dusan Pertovic explicitly stated that Turkey is a 
valuable partner and major power in the region, noting that the Serbs' 
views towards Turkey have become more positive than in the preceding 
century.Enter Russian oil industry controlSince
 2007, when the South Stream Project pipeline -- a proposed gas pipeline
 to transport Russian natural gas to the Black Sea, Bulgaria and further
 to Greece, Italy and Austria -- was announced, Russians came to own the
 Serbian oil industry and are major share holders of the famous 
Bulgarian gas and oil giant Gazprom, which controls the Bulgarian, 
Romanian, Greek and Macedonian markets, as well as having a partnership 
in building a Bulgarian nuclear power plant in Belene. In addition, all 
the oil pumps in Republika Srpska and the majority of Lukoil's oil pumps
 in Macedonia are controlled by Russians. They also have concessions in 
much of the Serbian mining industry.Among various other European 
banking industries, financial institutions and insurance companies, the 
famous Pro-Credit Bank is fully functional and successfully operational 
in most Balkan cities and towns.Turks have also attempted to 
access the Balkans. Let's take a quick survey of some of the major 
Turkish investments in various countries of the region. Through the 
Turkcell telecommunications company, Turkey has managed to buy and 
become a major shareholder of Telekom Srbija; well-known Turkish 
construction companies have managed to win a tender to build a 
445-kilometer-long highway in Serbia linking Belgrade with Bar in 
Montenegro; a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) was signed between two 
countries; and there was even some discussion about Turks buying 
Serbia's national carrier, JAT Airways.In Bosnia, Turkish 
companies are the fourth biggest investors after Austria, Slovenia and 
Germany, while 49 percent of Bosnian national carrier BH Airlines was 
bought by Turks in the last quarter of 2008. Kosovo's Pristina 
International Airport was a similar case, in which the Turkish company 
LÃMAK received concessions to run the airport for the next 20 years. 
Additionally, Turkey is the third-largest investor in Albania after 
Italy and Greece.Turkey has long been in the banking industry of 
Bulgaria, Serbia, Bosnia, Albania and Macedonia. For instance, Ziraat 
Bankasý and IK Bank (a sister company of Halk Bank) are well-established
 banking systems in Macedonia, while TEB (Türk Ekonomi Bankasý) is 
already among the key players of Kosovo's banking industry. BKT is the 
second leading bank in Albania in terms of banking facilities, 
investments, loans and financial capacity, and, according to its CEO, 
Albaraka Türk will open its first bank in Albania later this year.The
 biggest struggle between Turkey and European powers is expected to take
 place in the rich mining resources of Kosovo and Macedonia, as Kosovo 
has one of the largest mineral and coal deposits in the Balkans.Turkey
 plays a great regional role in areas as varied as infrastructure and 
industry. Examples of this are Skopje Alexander the Great International 
Airport and Ohrid St. Paul the Apostle, both in Macedonia. The former, 
newly constructed and operated by the well-known Turkish conglomerate 
TAV, was officially inaugurated by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip 
Erdoðan during his official visit to Macedonia on Sept. 29-30, 2011.Among
 other major state economic actors of Turkey in the Balkans are the 
Turkish Cooperation and Development Agency (TÃKA). Some Balkan and 
Turkish analysts think that this state agency intends to protect the 
Ottoman monuments of the past in regions where the settlements were 
originally Turkish and the local populations have been Islamized. Based 
on established evidence, TÃKA has access to the Balkans through a number
 of projects in various areas of infrastructure, from historical 
monuments to water pumps and sewerage. However, it is not surprising 
that TÃKA was not allowed to have access to, or rather set up offices 
in, all the Balkan countries and/or was banned from any kind of 
activities in certain countries.Looking at Turkish educational institutionsTurkish
 educational institutions in the Balkans have a longer history than 
Turkish state agencies, in both pre-university and university levels. 
These educational institutions have managed to be successful as 
secondary schools, so-called "kolej" (high schools), where the medium of
 instruction is in English, along with the local languages. These 
schools' students do not belong to a specific group or ethnicity, as the
 schools are open to all, including the children of diplomats and expats
 working for international companies.The schools have managed to 
gain the confidence of both locals and foreigners by promoting peace and
 tolerance, as well as providing a relatively balanced curriculum in 
comparison with other schools. In this way, these schools have become a 
number one choice of the people. Among them are the first college built 
after the collapse of communism, in 1993, Mehmet Akif, which was later 
renamed Turgut Özal College in Albania; many schools in various cities 
and towns of Bosnia and Herzegovina under the umbrella name of the Bosna
 Sema Educational Institutions; Mehmet Akif Colleges, Gulistan 
Educational Institutions and the International School of Pristina in 
Kosovo; the International School of Bucharest in Romania and Yahya Kemal
 Colleges in three of Macedonia's cities.The headquarters of the 
Yahya Kemal Colleges is in the heart of Skopje, right in the center of 
the city, facing the old Ottoman stone bridge and the newly erected 
statue of Alexander the Great. An American expat residing in Skopje 
said, "I choose to send my son to a Turkish school, Yahya Kemal, because
 they know what they are doing; the school has a well-designed 
curriculum. It is not ethnocentric, but rather has global elements." He 
concluded by saying, "My wife [a Macedonian Christian] and I are quite 
happy." In higher education, on the other hand, Turkish companies 
navigated by both political players and neo-Sufi movements began to 
establish universities, such as Epoka University in Tirana, the 
International University of Sarajevo and the International Burch 
University, both in Sarajevo, and the International Balkan University in
 Skopje. The International Balkan University's first graduation ceremony
 was held last week in the presence of Turkish Prime Minister Recep 
Tayyip Erdoðan, where his wife, Emine Erdoðan, presented diplomas to the
 graduates.It requires time, perhaps a few decades, for Turkish 
universities to become successful and ultimately enter the world 
standards of higher learning, as is the case with any other university 
in the world. The universities established or backed by the Europeans 
are going through similar processes and have similar, if not worse, 
stories.NGOs in the BalkansThe following 
issue requires a great deal of attention from academics and journalist 
alike. There is a relatively large number of so-called civil society 
groups and NGOs actively operating in almost every city, if not town, of
 the Balkans assisted and/or financed by international organizations and
 agencies from both the Eastern and Western worlds with specific intents
 and agendas. These groups supposedly publish annual reports of their 
activities, declare their cash flows and provide detailed bank accounts 
on how and where the money was transferred.Of course, it is a 
well-known fact that by using the existing rules and laws, the best way 
to launder money is through establishing civil society groups and NGOs 
and the Balkans is a perfect place for this job. The main difference 
between different civil society groups and NGOs is that some make the 
organization's records available to the public and researchers. In order
 to avoid creating controversy or problems we do not give out the names 
of any groups linked to Turkey or European countries that have not been 
publicizing their bank accounts and annual reports, but we urge academic
 institutions, think tanks, broadcasting bureaus and individual research
 fellows to investigate this highly important and, to some extent 
classified, matter. Such malpractice is undoubtedly widespread 
throughout the region in question.The major distinction between 
the steadily rising superpower of Turkey and the established superpowers
 of Europe is that Turkey, like in southern and southeastern 
Mediterranean countries, has been and is still playing an unprecedented 
role in the sphere of public diplomacy. By the same token, European 
countries have so far been lackadaisical.For the Eid al-Fitr 
holiday, for instance, which everyone prefers to celebrate at home with 
their own family, Davutoðlu and his wife spent the last three days of 
the holy month of Ramadan and the entire holiday in the Balkans, first 
visiting Kosovo and then Bosnia, Romania and Serbia. This was an amazing
 move by a high profile Turkish minister, who, besides holding official 
meetings, met ordinary people from all walks of life in Pristina, 
Prizren and Sarajevo, and delivered public talks as he was warmly 
welcomed by locals. This was similar to the visits of Arýnç to Kosovo 
and Baðýþ to Macedonia.And the most important visit was the 
recent visit of Prime Minister Erdoðan to Macedonia, where on his 
two-day official visit he was closely in touch with the public wherever 
he went, as he toured the western part of the country starting from 
Skopje, Tetovo, Gostivar and Ohrid, and delivered public talks as if he 
were visiting one of the regions of Turkey. His speeches were full of 
messages similar to those he expressed during the recent 2011 election 
campaign of Turkey. Let's see what Turkey and the European countries' 
next move towards the Balkans will be.*Mesut Ãdriz is an 
associate professor, doctor and head of the department of political 
science and international relations and general coordinator of the 
center for Intercultural Dialogue & Education at Gazikent 
University.