Turkey as a Nascent Power in the Balkans: From the Özal Years to the Akp

Abstract

Without considering the common history of Turkey and the Balkans, and the Özal period in Turkey, it would be difficult to understand the AKP’s religion-oriented domestic and foreign policy preferences and Turkey’s religious-oriented ambivalent soft power structure for the Balkans. Therefore, this chapter also explains the historical social–political developments via using interviews and relevant fieldwork notes.