Perceptions of Bosnian Students’ of Turkey and Turkish Culture

Esref Kenan RASİDAGİC,Mirsad KARIC,Recai AYDIN

doi:10.31679/adamakademi.958299

Abstract

Perceptions about other nations or countries are generally formed and shaped by historical events, cultural differences, beliefs and often prejudices and they are difficult to change overtime. Turkey, as a country with big goals and aspirations as well as a natural interest in the region because of its historic ties with the region, would like to strengthen its image and its relations with Balkan countries. In order to reach this goal, Turkey has poured substantial amount of money and resources to the region in last twenty years. This study aimed to investigate if the efforts of Turkey worked and were able to attract the hearts and minds of the young generation in Bosnia and Herzegovina. For this purpose, a survey was conducted in five major state universities of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2019. The results show that religion and ethnicity still play an important role in forming the perceptions. According to survey results, Bosniaks or Bosnian Muslims heavily favor Turkey and are more interested in Turkish culture while Bosnian Serbs and Bosnian Croats are not very comfortable with Turkish involvement in Bosnia and they feel suspicious about the motives of Turkey in the region. The results also indicate that Bosnian Serbs and Bosnian Croats feel that Turkey discriminates in its efforts, and mostly focuses on the Bosniaks.

Highlights

Public perceptions about another nation or country often are inquired by academicians or politicians in order to find out people’s tendencies about “others.” Perceptions about other nations or countries are often formed and shaped by historical events, cultural differences, beliefs, and often prejudices, and they are difficult to change over time
Since Justice and Development Party took over the administration, Turkey has practiced very dynamic and active involvement in the Balkan region, especially in Bosnia and Herzegovina
This paper focuses on the perceptions of Turkey as Turkey and Turks have a special role in Bosnian history

Summary

Introduction

Public perceptions about another nation or country often are inquired by academicians or politicians in order to find out people’s tendencies about “others.” Perceptions about other nations or countries are often formed and shaped by historical events, cultural differences, beliefs, and often prejudices, and they are difficult to change over time. Strong and influential countries usually try to change or reshape the perceptions about themselves through media, propaganda, and public diplomacy or with its more popular term, soft power, because the image of the country is considered as important as its military and economic power (Gültekin, 2005). Turkey has experienced high economic growth in recent years and at the same time experienced a major shift in its international political decisions by changing its inward approach to a more dynamic and involving approach in its relations with its neighbors and international counterparts. This policy change is very visible in Turkey’s Balkan affairs. Turkey has invested a large amount of money through its government and aid agencies, established schools in all over the Balkan region and provided a large number of scholarships for students from Balkan countries

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