Discourse of identity and the other in the Turkey – Albania relations: Stability/change

This study uses a constructivist approach to analyze the effects of identities, cultures, discourses and bilateral images in the foreign policy processes of Turkey and Albania. Through a study of the politically decisive events, we analyzed the effects of the discourse of the other in the context of bilateral foreign policy making. In order to shed light on the changes and stability in the bilateral foreign policies, we studied the identity construction processes of two countries with an emphasis on events of significance in this context. Both countries have gone through several changes in their national identity construction processes since the Edict of Gulhane. There were "inner" and "outer" factors that effected the identity construction processes as well. Our study also focused on the alternations on the perceptions of identity and allies during and after the Cold War. We concluded that the contemporary bilateral images in the Turkey-Albania relations are effected by the two countries' historical past ("inner" factors) as well as their relations to the "Western identity" ("outer" factors).