@article{article_958299, title={Perceptions of Bosnian Students’ of Turkey and Turkish Culture}, journal={Adam Academy Journal of Social Sciences}, volume={11}, pages={101–124}, year={2021}, DOI={10.31679/adamakademi.958299}, author={Karıc, Mirsad and Rasidagic, Esref Kenan and Aydın, Recai}, keywords={Kamuoyu Algısı, Bosna-Hersek, Türkiye, Balkanlar}, abstract={Perceptions about other nations or countries are generally formed and shaped by historical events, cultural differences, beliefs and often prejudices and they are difficult to change overtime. Turkey, as a country with big goals and aspirations as well as a natural interest in the region because of its historic ties with the region, would like to strengthen its image and its relations with Balkan countries. In order to reach this goal, Turkey has poured substantial amount of money and resources to the region in last twenty years. This study aimed to investigate if the efforts of Turkey worked and were able to attract the hearts and minds of the young generation in Bosnia and Herzegovina. For this purpose, a survey was conducted in five major state universities of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2019. The results show that religion and ethnicity still play an important role in forming the perceptions. According to survey results, Bosniaks or Bosnian Muslims heavily favor Turkey and are more interested in Turkish culture while Bosnian Serbs and Bosnian Croats are not very comfortable with Turkish involvement in Bosnia and they feel suspicious about the motives of Turkey in the region. The results also indicate that Bosnian Serbs and Bosnian Croats feel that Turkey discriminates in its efforts, and mostly focuses on the Bosniaks.}, number={2}, publisher={Ankara Düşünce ve Araştırma Merkezi}