The Economic, Political and Socio-Cultural Influence of Turkey and Russia in Albania: Perceptions from Youth Political Forums

Abstract

Background: The specific geographical position of Albania, has promoted opposing influences from Western and Eastern countries. Two large influential countries with clear economic and political interests in Albania are Russia and Turkey. Aim of study: The aim of the present study was to assess perceptions of economic, political and cultural influence of Turkey vs. Russia in Albania. The main hypothesis of the study was that perceptions of Turkish influence would be stronger as compared to Russian influence. Methodology: The sample included 140 participants, 71 women and 69 men, mean age of 23.84 (SD=3.53); In terms of political forum membership, the sample was divided as follows: 57.1% belonged to FRESSH 40.7% FRPD and 2.1 % LRI. The instrument was a self-report questionnaire, aiming to assess perceptions of Russian and Turkish influence in Albania and was administered through the Google Docs Platform. Results indicated that a predominance of Turkey over Russia across all 3 dimensions, economic, political and cultural. However, while Turkey was rated highest in terms of economic influence, Russia was rated highest in terms of political influence. Moreover, the different political organizations (left or right wing) did not differ in their perceptions of both countries’ influence. Finally Turkish influence was perceived as a stronger barrier to European integration as compared to Russian influence although scores were moderate to low.