Turkish Foreign Policy’s Bosnia and Herzegovina Exam (1990-1995)

After the collapse of Yugoslavia, the status quo within the Balkans had changed very dramatically in any aspect. In particular, the “new born” states started to attract the attention of the Turkish foreign policy in the sense of defense, security and economic interests. Taking the Turkey’s strong historical and cultural connections with Bosnia and Herzegovina under consideration it is quite possible to investigate the Turkish perspective in the frame of Alexander Wendt’s famous social constructivism theory. Needless to say that, despite forming the fundamental approach of the Turkish foreign policy; social constructivism cannot explain the Turkish approach by itself. Concerning the war period, there were several political actors and internal/external dynamics which affected the Turkish foreign policy towards Bosnia and Herzegovina. This paper seeks to analyze this approach not only in the framework of social constructivism but also including global and domestic realities.