23.07.2021 – 17:36
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that for years and decades, when it comes to the Balkans and Kosovo, Turkey will come to the rescue with all its strength. Despite tensions in relations between Ankara and Pristina over the opening of the embassy in Jerusalem, Erdogan’s new message not only settled all disputes, but directly attacked Serbia’s national interests.
The attitude of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan towards Kosovo is not accidental, just as it is not accidental that he mentioned Kosovo before his visit to Northern Cyprus.
Turkey has special relations with Kosovo and this represents a continuation of Turkish policy to increase its influence and strengthen relations with the countries of the Western Balkans. Turkey has always believed that it has the strength to advance the recognition of Kosovo throughout the Islamic world, in the hope that this message will reach the UN as well.
“Now we have 114 countries recognizing Kosovo and we want that number to increase. “We hope that this year at the United Nations General Assembly, in the meeting I will have with Biden, we will discuss this topic again, that we will work together for the recognition of Kosovo,” Erdogan told reporters, among other things. Turkish before leaving for the Turkish part of Cyprus.
Turkey had recognized Kosovo’s independence, along with the United States, Albania and Afghanistan.
In fact, Turkey has been lobbying for months, mainly within the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, which brings together 57 countries. Erdogan is learned to be working mainly with countries that do not recognize Kosovo due to internal problems they have on their territory.
Among the members of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation that Ankara is trying to talk about are Algeria, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Morocco, Lebanon, the three Islamic countries with the strongest stance against Kosovo.
Turkish media point out that the Turkish president was working with these countries before the opening of the Kosovo embassy in Jerusalem and despite divisions over the issue.
The Turkish president’s statements have sparked a series of warnings in Belgrade, with President Aleksandar Vucic saying he would respond to Erdogan’s efforts, even though Turkey was a more powerful country. “Serbia is not Turkish land,” Vucic said. “We will defend our national interests.”
Serbian media say that Erdogan’s support for Kosovo is neither a coincidence nor a surprise for Belgrade. “In 2013, during a visit to Pristina, Erdogan said that” Kosovo is Turkey and Turkey is Kosovo “, so the then Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic canceled the tripartite meeting between Serbia, Turkey and Bosnia and Herzegovina”, writes today the Serbian newspaper “B92” .
“Also, in 2010, during the visit of the then President of Kosovo, Hashim Thaçi in Ankara, Erdogan organized talks between Thaçi and the representatives of Greece and Syria in an effort for these countries to recognize Kosovo’s independence.”
Unconditional support for Kosovo
The Serbian newspaper says the only surprise is Erdogan’s unconditional support after Pristina opened its embassy in Jerusalem. “The Turkish president stated that he experienced it as a betrayal not only of Turkey, but also of him personally. But it is clear that Ankara realized it was an international game, that Donald Trump played a key role, and that Israel in turn recognized Kosovo as the first Muslim country to open an embassy in Jerusalem. “Erdogan clearly understood that he had to look beyond these misunderstandings.”
In a statement on the continuation of lobbying for Kosovo’s independence, the Turkish President announced that he would raise this issue during the meeting with US President Biden.
Analysts are convinced that Kosovo will be raised as a topic of discussion between the two leaders, but it is unclear whether there will be concrete results to accelerate its recognition in the international arena.
The Turkish president seems to have decided to play with two gates, lobbying on the one hand to reach a consensus on the Kosovo issue within the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and on the other influencing other UN members, along with the US -in.
Why now?
Erdogan spoke about Kosovo before heading to northern Cyprus, where Turkish Cypriots declared unilateral independence in 1974, which has so far been recognized only by Ankara. According to experts, the moment for the statement in defense of Kosovo was not chosen by chance.
“Erdogan seems to want to do in Cyprus what he supports in Kosovo, he wants the Turkish minority in Cyprus to declare an independent state,” said analyst Aleksandra Tomanic.
The Turkish president has revived the Cyprus issue during his recent visit to the island, proposing the creation of two states. “We do not have another 50 years to lose,” Erdogan told a crowd not far from Nicosia. “No progress can be made in the negotiations without acknowledging that there are two peoples and two states with equal status,” he said.
“Raising the issue of Kosovo while demanding the declaration of independence from the Turks in Cyprus, enables, among other things, Erdogan to have a card in the eyes of the international community to demand the same for Cyprus. Although he is one of Kosovo’s lawyers in the international arena, the moment chosen to raise this issue is not a coincidence. “By drawing parallels between Cyprus and Kosovo, Erdogan is seeking the implementation of the same standard for both Kosovo and the Turkish Cypriots,” said Tomanic.
