Turkey is set to ratify military framework agreements signed with three Balkan nations neighboring Greece: Albania, North Macedonia, and Kosovo.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan initiated these agreements to establish a stronger Turkish military presence in the region. This initiative aims to secure strategic influence around Greece, Nordic Monitor reports.
The move comes in light of Turkey’s revisionist claims regarding some of Greece’s territories and its active military presence in Syria. Ankara’s defense partnerships indicate an intention to be more active in a region where alliances are important. This occurs at a time when Turkey challenges Greece over territorial issues.
It also serves as a show of strength for Erdogan, who appears to be aiming to establish himself as the leader in the Balkans, expanding his presence and Muslim influence in Europe. It should be noted that the three countries have large Muslim populations.
The agreements Turkey and its partners have made show that they will collaborate in a range of military and defense areas, including training and education, joint exercises, defense industry cooperation, intelligence sharing, logistics support, medical services, cyber defense, peacekeeping missions and countering landmines and improvised explosive devices.
According to the Nordic Monitor, the agreements facilitate personnel exchange, joint research in military science and technology, and operational cooperation in humanitarian assistance and disaster relief missions.
The Turkish president has fast-tracked the agreements to the Turkish Parliament. Similar pacts typically require lengthy review processes. The deal is part of a broader strategy to enhance Turkey’s defense cooperation with neighboring and allied nations to counter regional security threats.
Agreements with financial gain as well
Turkey’s defense strategy, reinforced by several formal military agreements, is connected to the sale of drones manufactured by Baykar, a company owned by President Erdogan’s son-in-law. Baykar has expanded its offerings to include various defense products.
Nordic Monitor has previously reported that Turkey has increasingly leveraged comprehensive framework agreements to obscure subsequent military, defense, and intelligence deals from public scrutiny.
The report cited Brigadier General Esat Mahmut Yılmaz, head of the General Directorate of Legal Services at Turkey’s Defense Ministry. According to Yılmaz, Turkey has consolidated the three agreements, which were initially negotiated separately, into a single framework to expedite engagement in foreign military operations.
Once ratified, the agreements will allow the Turkish military to sign secondary deals with foreign partners without requiring further parliamentary approval. This method extends Turkey’s overseas military activities. This at a time when neighbors Turkey and Greece compete over the procurement of fighter jets from the United States.
Turkey has employed similar strategies in previous defense agreements with African and Central Asian nations, seeking defense partnerships through comprehensive legal frameworks.
According to Nordic Monitor, as of December 2024, Turkey had signed military framework agreements with 89 countries and military training cooperation agreements with 65. Negotiations are ongoing with 47 nations for military framework deals and 13 for training agreements. Additionally, Turkey has signed defense industry cooperation agreements with 90 countries.
Most international agreements the Turkish Parliament recently processed have fallen under these broad military frameworks. This suggests an Erdogan administration effort to limit parliamentary scrutiny. Opposition lawmakers argue that these framework agreements grant excessive discretion to the executive branch in military affairs.
The Muslim factor
Erdogan’s ambition to become the “sultan” of the Near East (at least) and the Balkans became more obvious in October 2024 when he traveled to Albania’s capital to inaugurate a Turkish-funded mosque with 50-meter-high (160-foot-high) minarets to boost the Muslim sentiment of the country’s half.
The new Namazgah Mosque in Tirana is the largest in the Balkans. Construction of the mosque began in 2015, with approximately 30 million euros ($34 million) funded by the state-run Turkish Muslim organization, Diyanet. The site is near landmark Catholic and Orthodox cathedrals.
The Turkish President also said that his country would give an unspecified number of drones to boost military capabilities in Albania, whose population is slightly more than 50 percent Sunni Muslim.
According to the 2024 census in Kosovo, 93.5 percent of the population are Muslims, most of whom are ethnic Albanians. There are also non-Albanian speaking Muslims who identify as Bosniaks, Gorani, and Turks.
Finally, according to the 2021 official census, the religious composition of North Macedonia was 60.44 percent Christian of all denominations, 32.17 percent Muslim, 0.59 percent atheist or agnostic, and 7.26 percent other or undefined (predominantly Orthodox Macedonians as per registries).
Regarding Greece, Turkey has repeatedly attempted to portray the Greek Muslims of Thrace—descendants of people from the 1923 population exchange with Asia Minor—as an “oppressed Turkish minority,” using the freedom of religion narrative.