The Kosovo crisis and Turkey (1991-2001)

Abstract

With the dissolution of Yugoslavia in the post-Cold War period, the disagreement between the Serbs and the Albanians in Kosovo reached a elimax and a erisis emerged in 1999. The eruption of the Kosovo erisis is closely related to the larger Albanian question in the Balkans which started with the establishment of the Albanian state in 1912. Existence of Albanians living dispersed in the Balkans, particularly in Kosovo, Macedonia and Greece has always been problematic for the host states. Whether the Albanians really wished to gather around a single state or not was not questioned by the host states, who always tried to prevent the establishment of a larger Albanian state in the Balkans. 1 The Balkans is a corridor between Turkey and the European continent. Claiming to be a regional power and having historical and cultural bounds with the region, Turkey can not ignore the developmets in the Balkans. Turkey is expected to play an influential role regarding the events of the Balkans.