A. Davutoglu’s Doctrine of Strategic Depth and the Balkans

Abstract

Davutoglu defines Turkey as a central regional power located in the middle of Afro-Eurasia and surrounded by regions with which it does not only have geographical proximity, but also historical and cultural ties. Consisting of three belts, these regions constitute the strategic depth of Turkey. The Balkans are one of them. The two basic axes on which Turkey’s Balkan geopolitics is based are Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Kosovo. The Bosnian, the Macedonian, and the Albanian issues (the latter being an extension of the Kosovo issue) are key regional problems. A. Davutoglu considers them from the point of view of global, regional, and local challenges. Turkey should keep track of external regional factors and internal regional balances. At the global level, Ankara is striving to build a new international political, economic, and cultural order. Regionalism is the most important basis and requirement for the Balkan policy aimed at creating a regional order based on the principles of regional responsibility, inclusiveness, and economic integration, and aspirations for European integration. There is an incompatibility, moreover, a contradiction of regional and European integration, which creates a dilemma for the Balkan policy of Turkey.