Macedonian Albanians are Erdoğan’s Trojan Horse – opinion piece

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is conducting a “peaceful onslaught” on the Republic of Macedonia with an aim to “dominate the country under the guise of peaceful relations,” investigative reporter Arbana Xharra and professor Alon Ben-Meir have warned in an op-ed published in Greek daily Kathimerini.

Turkey under Erdoğan has invested heavily in Macedonia, “building mosques and Turkish schools, and funding media, religious institutions, and most recently political parties, which are directly controlled by his close associates and have dramatically increased his influence over the Albanian community,” according to the article.

This has gained the Turkish president a high level of support among the country’s predominantly Albanian Muslims, who make up around a third of the country’s population.

Critics of Erdoğan are fiercely attacked online and labelled as “Islamophobes,” a Macedonian investigative journalist told the article’s authors.

Meanwhile, Turkish influence continues to grow through business investments, religious institutions, financial aid and cultural institutions.

The Besa Movement, a political party that closely sticks to Erdoğan’s line, was established by the editors of a pro-Erdoğan media outlet in 2014 and won five seats in parliament in their first elections the following year.

The “Besa Movement is [a] religious sect with the open mission of spreading Erdogan’s Islamic agenda among Albanians in Macedonia,” the authors quoted Macedonian Professor Ymer Ismaili as saying.

“This is Erdogan’s modern Trojan Horse, and the Albanians in FYROM must realize that they are unwittingly falling into Erdogan’s trap,” the authors wrote, using the acronym for the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.