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Balkanlar’da Türkiye ve Almanya


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BOOK REVIEW: Dimitar Bechev, Rival Power: Russia’s Influence in Southeast Europe

     For centuries Balkans is playing an important role in Russia’s foreign policy. During the Czarist Russia, the region served as one of the main polygons on the Empire’s way to access the warm seas of the Mediterranean, thus ending its historical deficiency of lacking navigable waters during the winter months. With the establishment of the Soviet Union, Russia was present in the region through the ideological camp formed together with the socialist regimes in the Balkans. Later on, two unusual Socialist regimes of Albania and Yugoslavia severed their ways with the Kremlin. But, despite all Soviet influence in the region would remain pretty strong throughout the Cold War. Moscow’s influence will start diminishing with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. For a decade to come, through the 1990s, Russia will struggle to keep its status as a relevant power in the Balkans. With the wars in Former Yugoslavia the region entered a period of “Pax Americana” where Washington the...
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Why Balkans matter for Turkey?

In the last few years we are witnessing a shift in Turkey’s foreign policy, moving from once being a bastion of Western civilization to a more undefined Eurasian understanding. Turkey’s leadership started flirting more actively with Moscow with ties getting normalized, after the apology for downing of a Russian airplane over Syria. Vladimir Putin was faster than Western politicians in condemning the failed coup. Some even say Putin himself warned Turkey’s president that coup is under its way. Disappointed with Western’s attitude, Ankara started more openly speaking of getting even closer with Kremlin. President of Turkey and political establishment in Ankara are sending threatening messages to Western leaders regarding the Turkey’s NATO membership and recently went even as far to announce a possible referendum on abandoning EU accession process. Besides the threatening rhetoric definitely there were some moves in recent months confirming this stance of Ankara. Turkey’s political elit...
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US Comeback and Counter-measures in the Balkans

By Jahja Muhasilovic Recent political maneuvers in the Balkans indicate that the US has decided to more effectively counter growing Russian assertiveness in the Balkans. Russia has become a serious factor of destabilization in the region as the West has forsaken the region. Now the US has decided to play its card. After the crisis over Ukraine and Crimea back in 2014, the Kremlin has taken a dangerous yet from its perspective a necessary premise in the foreign policy. Russia is actively trying to undermine the Western influence wherever it can in the world, by widening the cracks that have appeared in the Western-built international system. This new strategy implies integrated network of activities from supporting various ultra-nationalist elements across the Western world that are undermining multilateralism, financing neo-Nazi groups to well-planned cyber-attacks, spreading fake news, social media propaganda through ‘bots’, or even meddling in the elections, like in the case...
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