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Nikolaos Tzifakis is an associate professor of international relations at the Department of Political Science and International Relations of the University of the Peloponnese, a Research Associate of the Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies (WMCES), and a member of Balkans in Europe Policy Advisory Group (BiEPAG). You can follow him on Twitter @NTzifakis.
Just before visiting Turkish-occupied Northern Cyprus in late July, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan gave Serbia an unpleasant surprise. He announced that Turkey would lobby to increase the number of countries that recognized independent Kosovo. Erdoğan stated on July 19, “Now 114 countries recognize Kosovo, and we want that number to increase. We hope that this year at the United Nations General Assembly, at the meeting I will have with [U.S. President Joe] Biden, we will discuss this topic again, that we will work together on the recognition of Kosovo.”
