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Article Contesting the EU? China's Engagement With Türkiye and the Western Balkans(Routledge Journals, Taylor & Francis Ltd, 2025) Yilmaz, GozdeThe EU has been challenged as a norm exporter both internally and externally in recent years. However, studies focused on the external dimensions of this contestation, such as the rise of China, have remained limited in the literature to date. This article accordingly explores the external dimensions of EU contestation by examining the case of Chinese engagement with T & uuml;rkiye and the Western Balkan countries in the 2010s and 2020s. It is argued that despite the EU's long engagement as a norm exporter in the aforementioned countries, its hesitant approach to enlargement opened the gates to China as an alternative gravity centre for these countries. China filled the space left empty by the EU and increased its cooperation with T & uuml;rkiye and the Western Balkan countries. As a result, Chinese influence has become a reality, contesting the EU as a norm exporter in its own neighbourhood.Article Hagia Sophia's Reconversion: Turkey's De-Europeanization through Lefebvre's Spatial Triad(Routledge Journals, Taylor & Francis Ltd, 2026) Akdemir, Tugba Gurcel; Resuloglu, CilgaHagia Sophia, as a monument of enduring historical and cultural significance, has long stood at the intersection of religious, spatial, and political transformations. Its successive conversions - from basilica to mosque, from museum to mosque again - constitute the layers of its multidimensional character and reflect its symbolic role beyond mere architecture as a palimpsest of meanings. Throughout history, sovereignty over Hagia Sophia has embodied hegemonic power, with its spatial reconfigurations serving political concerns and ideological narratives. This article argues that Turkey's recent de-Europeanization is materially and symbolically manifested in the 2020 reconversion of Hagia Sophia into a mosque. By situating this transformation within Lefebvre's triadic spatial model-perceived space, conceived space, and lived space, the study conceptualizes Hagia Sophia as a paradigmatic site where space, power, and politics intersect, offering an interdisciplinary framework that links the politics of Europeanization with the spatial production of power.Article Citation - WoS: 4Citation - Scopus: 3Turkey in Between the Eu and China: From Europeanization To Cooperation With China(Routledge Journals, Taylor & Francis Ltd, 2023) Yilmaz, Gozde; Yildirim, Nilgun ElikucukTurkey has been on the path of EU membership since the 2000s, and the democratization process was well underway during the initial years of its candidacy. However, this trend was reversed substantially, with Turkey growing increasingly authoritarian during the 2010s. This substantial democratic backsliding has led to increasing authoritarian cooperation with the authoritarian powers on the rise, one of which is China, whose increasing engagement and cooperation with Turkey marked an alternative gravity centre for Turkey to be pulled by. This article argues that Turkey, in line with the worsening domestic authoritarianism, has been engaging with the authoritarian powers for survival rather than engaging with the EU, which provided legitimacy to the rule of the AKP during the initial years of its rule.
