Turkey may have a mediating role between three ethnicities in Bosnia, experts say

Balkan experts says Turkey may take on a mediating role as unresolved rivalries among its three ethnic groups stoke fears of a new conflict, Turkish daily newspaper, Daily Sabah, reports.

According to the report, Ali Huseyinoglu, deputy Head of Trakya University’s Balkan Research Institute told Daily Sabah that Turkey is a friendly country that has been supporting Bosnia-Herzegovina’s stability, sovereignty and territorial integrity since the 1990s.

Last December, Defence Minister, Hulusi Akar, stated that Turkey is ready to act as a mediator on the political crisis in Bosnia-Herzegovina and will do what it can to ensure stability, amid concerns over separatist moves by Bosnian Serb leader, Milorad Dodik.

“The messages delivered by the Turkish authorities from the highest level signals that Turkey will play a far more active and influential role in ebbing the tensions in the region and enhance consensus among the parties,” Ali Huseyinoglu told Daily Sabah.

On Jan. 18, Erdogan announced that he and his Serbian counterpart, Aleksandar Vucic, had agreed to broker crisis talks involving all parties in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Erdogan urged the international community to act together, while Vucic, on his part, underlined that Belgrade highly respects the territorial integrity of neighbouring Bosnia-Herzegovina.

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