Why the Turkish elections are important for Romania? Turkish citizens in Constanta and Bucharest chose the opposition when half of the votes were counted/ Ankara is Bucharest’s main non-EU economic partner

The results of the Turkish elections will weigh heavily both in the European Union and the Black Sea region, but will also be of significant importance to Romania in particular. Turkey is our country’s most important non-EU economic partner, the main NATO ally in the Black Sea region, which Turkey also shares with Romania. The two countries are historically linked by their minority communities, but also by the almost half a millennium of Ottoman heritage, with Dobrogea only returned to Romania in 1878.

• UPDATE 15 May, 06:55 By 06:00, 50.73% of the votes cast in Romania had been counted, with Kemal Kilicdaroglu winning 57.83% of the vote and Recep Tayyip Erdogan 37.89%, according to gazetebalkan.ro.

Romania’s most important non-EU economic partner

Particularly after the NATO Summit in Bucharest in 2008, relations between Romania and Turkey have been significantly strengthened, especially as a result of significant investments by the Turkish state in Romania. The Turks, including through the Turkish business environment in Romania, have poured substantial sums into projects carried out by institutions or local public administrations, events, especially in the cultural-artistic area and have granted sponsorships including from the state which became, in parallel, the most important non-EU area for Romanian exports.

The strengthening of Romanian-Turkish relations reached an important moment during Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s first visit to Romania as President in 2015. Subsequently, in 2018, the Romanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry reported during the Romania-Turkey Business Forum on „Developing economic and trade relations between Turkey and Romania in the field of public-private partnerships (PPP)” that Ankara is „the largest investor, the most important trading partner of Romania among non-EU countries”:

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• „At 2017 level, we are talking about total trade of €5.1 billion, a figure which, according to the data, will be exceeded by the end of this year. One of the most important goals of the CCIR is the internationalization of Romanian business, especially with regard to markets outside the EU area, where, unfortunately, we count too little in terms of trade. We rely a lot on Turkey, especially as it is a G20 country. If we want to have a successful business, to attract a lot of investments, then we have to turn to the G20 countries outside the EU”, said Mihai Daraban, President of the Romanian Chamber of Commerce.

Just four years later, at the same forum, only this time organized by the Romanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Istanbul, Mihai Daraban announced that the value of trade between Romania and Turkey was 7.03 billion euros at the end of 2021, but both countries had promised that this trade would exceed 10 billion euros in the near future. According to the Romanian Chamber of Commerce, as of January 2022, a total of 16,842 Turkish companies were operating in Romania, with a total subscribed share capital of €655.5 million.

The most important NATO member on the Black Sea

Turkey joined NATO in 1952, shortly after the establishment of the North Atlantic organisation ( April 4, 1949). With a population of about 85 million, an area of about 780 thousand sq km (37th in the world) and more than 90% of its territory in South-West Asia, Turkey has the 11th largest army in the world, according to the Global Firepower Index, and is NATO’s most important partner on the Black Sea.

In the context of the war in Ukraine, Romania has also strengthened its status as a regional power and key NATO ally in the Black Sea basin.

Turkey is „lined” by the Mediterranean, Aegean and Marmara Seas and is linked to the Black Sea by two straits which Turkey controls under the Montreux Convention of 1936 (Turkey retains control of the Straits and acquires the right to militarise them, but at the same time the right of free passage of civilian ships through the straits is enshrined. For warships of the Black Sea countries, passage is free, with prior warning and some restrictions. For Black Sea states, more restrictions have been imposed on the size and number of military vessels that may pass).

Ottoman heritage and the historical Turkish-Tatar community in Romania

Around 20,000 Turkish citizens live in Romania, according to information provided to G4Media by the Turkish Embassy in Bucharest. However, in total, the Turkish-Tatar community numbers around 20,000 in Dobrogea alone and another 10,000 in the rest of the country (the second largest community after Constanta is in Bucharest).

On the other hand, the Istanbul region alone is home to a large community of about 14,000 Romanian Orthodox practitioners, according to estimates made by the Romanian Patriarchate in Bucharest for a ziare.com report.

Neither the Romanian Embassy in Ankara nor the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs provide exact figures on the Romanian community living in Turkey, but they speak of „friendly relations” between the two countries and of „excellent political, economic, cultural, academic and scientific relations”.

The Turkish-Tatar community in Romania preserves traces of the Ottoman heritage from the time when Dobrogea belonged to the Ottoman Empire (from 1418/1421 until the War of Independence in 1878). The Ottoman heritage has left a rich architectural, religious, culinary and traditional heritage, especially in Constanta and Tulcea.

On the other hand, Turkey is sought after by Romanian students of Turkish-Tatar ethnicity who study at universities in Ankara, Hacettepe or Istanbul.

According to the Romanian Embassy in Ankara, in the field of scholarship exchanges, Romania offers 16 scholarships annually (for scientific research 2, PhD 2, Master 2, summer courses for learning Romanian language and culture 10). Turkey offers 22 scholarships. Romanian and Turkish students can also apply for short-term studies under the European Erasmus student exchange programme.

Romanian-language education is offered in Turkey at Ankara University, Faculty of Foreign Languages, History and Geography, where a Romanian-language lecturer’s office has been operating since 1992, and Turkish-language education in Romania is offered in several localities in Constanta county, as well as in Bucharest. A representative example is the „Ataturk” National College in Medgidia, established in partnership with the Turkish Ministry of National Education in 1995.

Background

Turks in Romania voted 50% more than in previous years, with around 45% of them expressing their electoral choice, compared to around 30% in 2018:

• „Voter turnout in all polling stations outside Turkey was high at around 50%, the highest since the introduction of diaspora voting. And in Romania, the turnout (around 45% of all voters) was higher than in other years, when it was around 30%,” the Turkish Embassy in Romania told G4Media and Info Sud-Est, adding that exact figures will only be provided after the presidential elections are over.
  The portal gazetebalkan.ro, dedicated to Turks in the Balkans and Romania, shows that 4,519 people voted out of a total of 10,179 registered voters in our country. Thus, the voter turnout was 44.13%.

The portal gazetebalkan.ro, dedicated to Turks in the Balkans and Romania, shows that 4,519 people voted out of a total of 10,179 registered voters in our country. Thus, the voter turnout was 44.13%.

In Bucharest, out of a total of 8,565 registered voters, 3,850 people turned out to vote. Voter turnout was 44.95%. In Constanța, out of 1,614 voters on the electoral rolls, 667 voters voted, a rate of 41.32%.

Some 3.41 million people were expected to vote abroad, including nearly 278,000 young first-time voters, according to dailysabah.com.

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan won more than 59% of the vote in the diaspora in the 2018 presidential election, beating his rival Muharrem Ince, who won just 25.8% in the 2018 election. Most votes for both candidates came from Europe. Erdoğan won 64% of the vote in Germany in 2018, 63% in France, 72% in the Netherlands, 74% in Belgium and 71% in Austria.

Romania is one of the countries where the Turkish diaspora chose the opposition candidate in the 2018 elections. Muharrem Ince got 41.19% five years ago compared to 39.88% for Recep Erdogan, according to sabah.com.tr.