Sample of Neo-Ottomanism and soft power, By Ioannis Michaletos

The Turkish state follows a so-called “Soft power approach” regarding the influence it wants to exercise in Islamists in Greece. In 2011 the Turkish foreign ministry announced it is going to report all historical monuments of Ottoman period that exist in Greece and then “take them under its protection”.

Turkey is interested mostly in re-establishing mosques that have been deserted over the past 2 centuries in the cities of Didymotycho (Close to the borders with Bulgaria), Ioannina (Close to the borders with Albania), the island of Rhodos (close to Turkey) and Thessaloniki (The second largest city in Greece-close to the Balkan neighbors).