The attempted satelization of FYROM by Turkey

By Ioannis Michaletos
In Istanbul it is roughly estimated that 100,000 citizens claim their descent from the Turkish minority in FYROM, and quite a few of those have attained positions in the diplomatic and military establishment of Turkey. In Vienna the local immigrant Slavic Macedonian groups that are involved in heroin smuggling include amongst their ranks Turkish minority members, an interesting aspect since the Albanian immigrants from FYROM, although coming from the same country, form their own crime groups and operate separately often antagonistically to the former.
As far as the heroin illegal trade is concerned, the Balkan narcotics axis has as main transit components Istanbul and Skopje on route to Western Europe. In FYROM, the Turkish groups from Istanbul form a significant segment of the crime kingpins, along with the so-called Kosovo mafia, two contraband networks in close cooperation to each other since the early ’90’s. Illegal immigration is also another sector by which crime groups from Istanbul find opportunity to establish bases in FYROM and cooperate with local groups.
The main aim of Turkey is to form an all-encompassing strategy as far as its relations with FYROM are concerned, so as to gain formidable political influence. Since Ankara follows the same policy in Albania, Bosnia and lately in Sanjak in Serbia, one can conclude that FYROM is another point towards the creation of a Turkish axis in the Balkans.
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SERBIANNA