Research Information System
International Conference On Education, Culture And Identity, Bosnia And Herzegovina, 1 - 04 July 2013, pp.44, (Summary Text)
The concept of town twinning or sister city refers, in a narrow sense, to the cooperation on various areas between towns that have a common border. This concept is used, in international sense, to refer to protocols that are made between local administrations of towns that are far from each other in order to exchange information and cooperate on education, finance, tourism, and culture.
The number of international town twinning protocols has increased particularly in the context of post war era (after the World War II) in order to improve the relationships between countries through local partnerships. Today there are twinning protocols between more than 11000 towns in 159 countries across the globe. 71 towns made protocols with of their counterparts in Bosnia Herzegovina as of 2013 in Turkey.
This paper focuses on the functionality and contribution of twinning protocols that have been made between Turkish and Bosnian local administrations to the relations between Turkey and Bosnia Herzegovina. It attempts to consider what Turkish towns have been doing and planning in the context of town twinning. The data was collected through semi-structured interviews that were carried out with authorities of 15 towns. According to the findings, the activities are usually limited to visits and cultural activities. They tend to be in the form of “bridges of heart” stressing historical links.