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Reconstruction of the ‘regional power’ role during the pandemic: Turkey’s COVID-19 diplomacy towards the balkans

ABSTRACT The CoViD-19 pandemic has led to a resurgence of health diplomacy in international relations. Especially the great powers and middle powers have provided different kinds of assistance to countries in need and utilized health diplomacy as an opportunity to construct, reconstruct or consolidate their role in regional and global politics. Turkey was no exception with its assertive and ambitious health diplomacy, of which the Balkans were central. Crisis periods have proved critical junctures for Turkish decision-makers to assert their ambitions in the Balkans. This article examines Turkish diplomacy towards the Balkan countries during the CoViD-19 pandemic and examines how Turkish decision-makers reconstructed a ‘regional power’ identity. Informed by the constructivist theory, the paper critically investigates how Justice and Development Party tried to consolidate Turkey’s identity as a regional power in the Balkans. It delves into the following questions: What are the main reasons for Turkey’s coronavirus diplomacy towards the Balkans? How are Turkish decision-makers trying to reconstruct Turkey’s role as a regional power during the pandemic? What does the Turkish case tell us about the coronavirus diplomacy of the middle powers in general?.