Turkey’s imperial legacy and the conflict potential in the Balkans

Abstract

Turkey is the only Eurasian state surrounded in almost entirely by acute hot or “frozen conflicts”, ranging from low-intensity violence and terrorism to full-fledged wars. The prevailing pattern of intercommunal and inter-ethnic conflicts in the continental Balkans and Cyprus have long been different from those in the rest of Europe and in the Middle East. This difference is closely related to the fact that these lands had experienced in the past centuries-long rule by the Ottoman Empire whose legal successor is the Republic of Turkey. The inter-communal conflict potential in the rest of Europe used to differ substantially, but this difference has been greatly reduced as Western Europe has in one respect become “balkanized”. Refs 11.