The Role of Turkish Firms on Kosovo’s Economic Development

Abstract

As one of the last countries declaring its independence in Europe, Turkey has been one of the first to recognise Kosovo as an independent state and has supported the country since 2008. Besides many governments approved and supported projects, Turkish firms have also a strong interest in the young state and play a very important role in the development of its economic structures. Turkish firms are on many projects regarding the infrastructure of the country, many of those firms play also an important role in educational sector and the economic relations are growing with a rapidly rising rate. Kosovo’s independency came after a very long wartime and even now there are many countries not recognising this young state. Even in these circumstances along German and American Firms Turkish firms play a very important and pioneer role. With this paper I am attempting to explain the transformation of this country and the role of Turkish firms during that process. The data used in the paper comes mainly from governmental resources like ministries of both countries. The data shows the explicit progression of the transformation and even under the expectations Turkey should be considered as a transformative power in its own right as a part of global processes.