Turkey has long sought to strengthen its position in the Balkans through political, economic and cultural means, but the strategy has limits and is attracting growing criticism.
Turkish PM Erdogan poses with residents in front of Presidency in Sarajevo in 2015 | Photo: official site of Turkish president.
A high-level Turkish delegation, probably led by Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, is due to visit Bosnia in May to attend the re-opening in Banja Luka of the Ferhadija mosque.
The 16th-century mosque was one of the most infamous cultural casualties of the 1992-5 war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
In 1993, Bosnian Serb forces levelled the mosque, which, thanks to its stunning architecture, had been the first site in former Yugoslavia to be placed on UNESCO's world heritage list.
The Turkish development agency TIKA, among other donors, has supported its meticulous reconstruction, which has taken years.
Some see this charitable undertaking as part of a much wider Turkish plan to expand its political, economic and cultural clout in the Balkans.
Another recent example of Turkey’s hands-on approach in the Balkans occurred last December, when Davutoglu inaugurated the latest Yunus Emre Institute in the Serbian capital, Belgrade.
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