Turkey's Balkan Policy Under Ak Party and Claims for Neo-Ottomanism

Abstract

This thesis studies Turkey s Balkan policy in the period of the Justice and DevelopmentParty (AKP) which is shaped by the Ahmet Davutoğlu s factor and, in this context aimsto find out if Turkey s Balkan policy under AKP is neo-Ottomanist or not, and in whichaspects and to what extent In order to achieve that objective, historical, political andintellectual roots of Ottomanism for the purpose of better understanding of currentpolitical understanding of neo-Ottomanism were examined. Then, the Balkan policy ofOttoman Empire and Turkey was summarized with the main lines after analyzingTurkish foreign policy in general and giving a brief information about the pre-OttomanBalkans history which are expected to provide some background to understand thegrounds of claims of neo-Ottomanism reemerged in the period of the AKP.