Turkey’s ‘Sultan’ Unites Feuding Balkan Leaders in Admiration

Ankara sees Serbia as key to the region:

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic in Belgrade, Serbia, 2019. Photo: EPA-EFE/ANDREJ CUKIC

A decade ago, in 2008, the annual trade volume between Serbia and Turkey was worth only about 340 million US dollars.

These days, according to the Turkish government, the trade volume has risen to 1.2 billion US dollars. Turkey's foreign direct investments in Serbia, almost zero a decade ago, have jumped to around 200 million US dollars.

Erdogan and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic announced that they aim to increase their trade volume to 5 billion US dollars in future, while Turkish investments in Serbia will continue to flow.

More surprisingly, the two leaders confirmed that Turkey will also sell arms to Serbia.

Vucic and Erdogan have a clear understanding of their bilateral relations, and of the need to improve economic ties and forget the two nations' ancient wounds.

The Ottoman Empire ruled Serbia for several centuries. But despite that historic conflict, Turkey now sees Serbia as the key to its Balkan interests. The Turkish leadership clearly believes that having Serbia on their side will bolster peace and stability in the region.

Furthermore, both leaders have many similarities when it comes to their authoritarian styles of government and love of big construction projects - as well as worsening relations with the EU and the US and warm ties with Russia.

While Serbia is a traditional ally of Russia, Turkey, though a NATO member, is also shifting towards Russia for several reasons, much to the concern of its Western allies.

Balkan Autocrats see Erdogan as model:

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