Turkey's growing influence in the Western Balkans has been pointed as a wake-up call for Brussels in an international conference in Europe's newest nation Kosovo to take a lead in its what they called "backyard" despite candidate country's tireless attempts in the past few years to cultivate peaceful relations among Balkan nations and staunch support Turkey lent for their integration into Euro-Atlantic structures.

Some participants of the conference, jointly organized by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) and Kosovo's Foreign Ministry, encouraged a greater role for the European Union in the region, warning the bloc that it may be losing the Balkans as the influence of other countries such as Turkey, China and Russia grows.

Speaking at the conference, titled "South East Europe in a Multipolar Era," Kosovo's President Atifete Jahjaga and Prime Minister Hashim Thaci presented their goals as Kosovo's integration into European and Atlantic institutions.

In his address to panelists and participants, Thaci underlined the importance of the territorial integrity and political stability of Kosovo, while he indirectly criticized the countries that hinder the widespread international recognition of the newly-independent country. Five of the 27 members of the EU still do not recognize Kosovo, which declared its independence in 2008.

Among many other topics, China’s growing economic relations with the region, Russia’s close ties with Serbia and Turkey’s increasingly growing role in the region were highlighted as the most important.

Panelists underlined that Serbia’s integration with the EU will greatly diminish Russia’s ambitions in the region, warning that Vladimir Putin’s possible return to presidential office would enable Moscow to pursue more assertive policy toward Belgrade. Considering such a scenario, some panelists pointed out that the US emphasizes the importance of Serbia’s accession to the EU, rather than NATO membership.

Turkey’s growing presence in Balkans main agenda for many

Turkey was the paramount theme of the conference that led to heated debates, with participants drawing attention to Turkey’s growing presence in the region, especially in economic and diplomatic fields.

In addition to the huge amount of investment in the region, with the opening of schools and universities, Turkey’s diplomatic initiatives to moderate several disputes among many countries in the region, such as Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia, seems to be fueling fears among regional political leaders and experts in the face of a new “imperial return” to the region.

Many participants depicted the concept of neo-Ottomanism as an alarming sign by reminding of some of the statements made by Turkish officials during visits to Kosovo. The picture in the conference proves that some remarks from Turkish Education Minister Ömer Dinçer about the elimination of anti-Turkish and anti-Ottoman sentiment in history text books in Kosovo’s education system is still fresh on the agenda.

Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu told the media during his recent visit that next year, 2012, will be celebrated as the year of Balkan Peace with the organization of various activities and with the participation of the all Balkan states in commemorating the First Balkan War, which took place in 1912. After embracing a heavy defeat in the First Balkan War, the Ottoman Empire lost all its territories in the Balkans, only keeping Turkish Thrace in its hands, as a sign of its presence in the European continent.

On the other hand, the recent conference witnessed attempts to thwart Turkey in the region by casting it in line with Russia and China as outside players of the Balkan game, disregarding the strong historical and cultural ties of Turkey with the region.

Turkish participants resisted the negative depiction and projection of Turkey, underlining the fact that Turkey is one of the countries that backs the potential NATO membership of the countries in the region. Going beyond the point, Turkey is home to millions of citizens of Balkan descent.