Turkey aims to promote NATO membership for Bosnia and Herzegovina, former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro and Georgia at the Alliance Chicago summit next week. Ankara stressed that NATO membership of these countries has a twofold effect – internally and externally.
Internally, accepting these countries would prove that “Open Door Policy is still valid”, while on the external plan, their membership could vastly contribute to the peace and stability in fragile regions of the Balkans and the Caucasus.
The summit has not been foreseen to deal in a major way with the Alliance enlargement, but Turkey decided to exert its influence and urge NATO members to continue this and make strong commitments which should then be materialised at the next summit, where invitations for membership should be given to those countries, based on individual progress in meeting criteria.
Turkey has promised to be the strong advocate for NATO enlargement and the voice of the four countries at the meeting in Chicago. Foreign ministers of all 28 NATO members and four aspiring candidates will meet at the margins of the Summit to assess the enlargement possibilities.
Turkey is more and more positioning in the Western Balkans as a strong and reliable partner to the countries of the region.
The closest relations Ankara has with Sarajevo, where a strong community of Bosniak Muslims derive a part of their identity from Ottomans. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has become the champion of BiH NATO accession since 2010 when he managed to secure invitation to join the Membership Action Plan.
Skopje's previous attempt was blocked by Athens over the name dispute and it is unlikely, regardless of the weakened position Greece is currently in, that much will change during the forthcoming Summit. It is no major secret that Turkey would gladly rally as wide a coalition of Greece's enemies as possible.
Turkey will also back Montenegro’s aspiration to join NATO, as pledged at the highest level in March during Montenegro’s Prime Minister Igor Lukšić's visit to Ankara, where Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan openly supported country's NATO accession at the next summit.
Finally, Turkey initiated strong and close cooperation with Serbia, not only developing economic and commercial ties, but also mediating in internal conflicts of the local Muslim communities and exporting its culture back to the country which Ottomans occupied for five centuries.
So far, it worked for Turkey, which has been perceived throughout the region as one of the most reliable partners and countries with the best perception among people.
