REPUBLIC OF TURKEY
SELCUK UNIVERSITY
INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
DEPARTMENT OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
SOFT POWER INSTRUMENT IN TURKISH
FOREIGN POLICY TOWARDS MONGOLIA UNDER
THE RULE OF JUSTICE AND DEVELOPMENT PARTY
Tserendorj AMARSANAA
MASTER THESIS
SUPERVISOR
DOÇ. DR. NEZİR AKYEŞİLMEN
i T. C.
SELÇUK ÜNİVERSİTESİ Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Müdürlüğü
Bilimsel Etik Sayfası
Ö ğ r e n c in in
Adı Soyadı Tserendorj Amarsanaa Numarası 134229001022
Ana Bilim/Bilim
Dalı Uluslararası İlişkiler
Programı Tezli Yüksek Lisans Doktora
Tezin Adı AK Parti döneminde Moğolistan’a yönelik Türkiye Dış Politikasinda kullanılan yumuşak güç araçları
I hereby declare that all information in this document has been obtained and presented in accordance with academic rules and ethical conduct. I also declare that, as required by these rules and conduct, I have fully cited and referenced all material and results that are not original to this work.
Bu tezin proje safhasından sonuçlanmasına kadarki bütün süreçlerde bilimsel etiğe ve akademik kurallara özenle riyaet edildiğini, tez içindeki bütün bilgilerin etik davranış ve akademik kurallar çerçevesinde elde edilerek sunulduğunu, ayrıca tez yazım kurallarına uygun olarak hazırlanan bu çalışmada başkalarının eserlerinden yararlanılması duru-munda bilimsel kurallara uygun olarak atıf yapıldığını bildiririm.
ii T. C.
SELÇUK ÜNİVERSİTESİ Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Müdürlüğü
Yüksek Lisans Tezi Kabul Formu
Ö ğ r e n c in in
Adı Soyadı Tserendorj Amarsanaa Numarası 134229001022
Ana Bilim / Bilim
Dalı Ulusrarası İlişkiler
Programı Tezli Yüksek Lisans Doktora Tez Danışmanı Nezir Akyeşilmen
Tezin Adı AK Parti döneminde Moğolistan’a yönelik Türkiye Dış Politikasinda kullanılan yumuşak güç araçları
Yukarıda adı geçen öğrenci tarafından hazırlanan AK Parti döneminde Moğolis-tan’a yönelik Türkiye Dış Politikasinda kullanılan yumuşak güç araçları başlıklı bu çalışma ……../……../…….. tarihinde yapılan savunma sınavı sonucunda oybirl-iği/oyçokluğu ile başarılı bulunarak, jürimiz tarafından yüksek lisans tezi olarak kabul edilmiştir.
Üvnanı, Adı Soyadı Başkan İmza
Üvnanı, Adı Soyadı Üye İmza
iii T. C.
SELÇUK ÜNİVERSİTESİ Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Müdürlüğü
Ö ğ r e n c in in
Adı Soyadı Tserendorj Amarsanaa
Numarası 134229001022
Ana Bilim / Bilim
Dalı Uluslararası İlişkiler
Programı Tezli Yüksek Lisans Doktora Tez Danışmanı Doç.Dc. Nezir Akyeşilmen
Tezin Adı AK Parti döneminde Moğolistan’a yönelik Türkiye Dış Politikasinda kullanı-lan yumuşak güç araçları
ÖZET
Bu çalışmada AK Parti döneminde (2002-2015) Moğolistan’a yönelik Türkiye Dış Politikasinda kullanılan yumuşak güç araçları incelemiştir. Türkiye’nin dış politikası kapasitesi ve yumuşak gücün araçları, kaynakları, zorlulukları ve başarılarını değerlendirerek Moğolistan’a yönelik politikasını ortaya koymak amaçlanmıştır. Türkiye’nin en etkili yumuşak gücünden biri olan TİKA’nın 2010’dan sonraki politikasındaki aktivizm ve değişiklikler onların dış politikasında yer almış olduğunu göstermemektedir.
Ayrıca, Sovyet Birleşiğinin yıkıldıktan sonraki Moğolistan’nın market ekonomi ve demokratik ülke olma süresindeki siyasal reform ve dış politikasında yeniden uygulanan üçüncü komşuluk konsepti, Türkiye ve Moğolistan arasındaki ikili siyasi ilişkileri, ilişkilerindeki durumlar ve gelişmeler aynı anda TİKA’nın Moğolistana yönelik proje ve faaliyetlerini keşfetmektedir. Ülke’nin demokratikleşmeye geçiş süresinde uluslararası işbirliği ajanları ve uluslararası ilişkiler’de yumuşak gücün etkilli yönetim olarak tanıttığı USAID, JICA, KOIKA ve GIZ’nın tarafından gösterilen sosyo-ekonomik kalkınmalara katkıda bulunmaktadır. Kalkınma ajanslarının göstermiş olduğu projeler ve faaliyetleri inceleyerek ileride TİKA’nın hangi alanda ve etkili çalışma önerileriyle sonuçlanmaktadır.
Anahtar kelimeler: Türkiye’nin dış politikası, yumuşak gücü, AK Partisi, Moğolistan dış politi-kası, üçüncü komşu politipoliti-kası, Rusya ve Çin dünya iki gücün arasındaki denge politikası
iv T. C.
SELÇUK ÜNİVERSİTESİ Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Müdürlüğü
Ö ğ r en c in in
Adı Soyadı Tserendorj Amarsanaa
Numarası 134229001022
Ana Bilim / Bilim
Dalı Ulusrarası İlişkiler
Programı Tezli Yüksek Lisans Doktora Tez Danışmanı Doç.Dc. Nezir Akyeşilmen
Tezin İngilizce Adı Soft power instrument in Turkey’s Foreign Policy towards Mongolia under the rule of the Justice and Development Party
SUMMARY
This research work examines the soft power of Turkey’s foreign policy towards Mongolia under the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) through the period of 2002 to 2015. The primary objectives of this study are to determine the capacity and main elements of Turkey’s soft power, evaluate its success, sources and challenges in the Turkish foreign policy towards Mongolia, activism and changes in TİKA’s policy since 2010 and realization in the foreign policy.
The study will also try to explore the political reform and democratic transition process of Mongolia, main directions of the foreign policy and Mongolia’s bilateral rela-tions with Turkey. During the transition period of the country, international cooperation agencies have contributed to Mongolia’s socio-economic development, that will be ana-lyzed as a phenomenon of the soft power tool.
Key words: Turkey’s foreign policy, soft power, AK Party, Mongolia’s foreign pol-icy, third neighbor polpol-icy, balancing policy between Russia and China
v Acknowledgment
This thesis would not have been possible without any guidance and support of some individuals who contributed their valuable assistance for the preparation and com-pletion of my study. First and foremost, my gratitude goes to my supervisor Doç, Dr Nezir Akyeşilmen, International Relations Faculty of Business Administration and Eco-nomics, Coordinator at Human Rights Center at the Selcuk University for his academic advice, continuous support, recommendation and guidance that he gave me during my thesis. His constructive comments, corrections and reviewing are really helped with the completion of this thesis.
I would like to thank my family and friends for their caring encouragement. Also, my gratitude goes to N. Tumenbayar for her grammatical comments and suggestions.
Also, I would like to express my gratitude to the Presidency for Turks Abroad and Related Communities (Türkiye Bursları) for providing me such a good opportunity to study and live in Turkey. And finally, I would like to thank all people who participated in this research work.
vi
Table of Contents
Bilimsel Etik Sayfası ... i
Yüksek Lisans Tezi Kabul Formu... ii
ÖZET ... iii SUMMARY... iv Acknowledgment ... v List of figures ... x Abbreviation ... xi INTRODUCTION... 1 CHAPTER I ... 7
SOFT POWER CONCEPT AND ITS TOOLS IN TURKEY’S FOREIGN ... 7
POLICY UNDER THE RULE OF AK PARTY ... 7
1.1 Theoretical and conceptual background ... 7
1.1.1. Concept of “power” in the international relations’ system ... 7
1.1.2. Origin, resources and tools of “soft power” concept... 10
1.1.3. Concept of “soft power” and its introduction into the international politics ... 15
1.1.4. Critique of the “soft power” concept by Joseph Nye ... 16
1.2. The understanding of soft power concept in turkey’s foreign policy and its practical tools ... 18
1.2.1. The basic principles of modern foreign policy of Turkey in the international arena ... 18
vii
1.2.2. Searching for a “soft power” in Turkey’s foreign policy ... 20
1.2.3. The arise of the AK Party in Government of Turkey ... 21
1.2.4. Soft power instruments in Turkish Foreign Policy under the AK Party ... 24
1.2.4.1. The Turkish International Cooperation and Development Agency ... 25
1.2.4.2. TÜRKSOY (International Organization for Turkic Culture) ... 27
1.2.4.3 Presidency for Turks Abroad and Related Communities (YTB -Türkiye Bursları) 28 1.2.4.4. Public diplomacy ... 29
1.2.4.5. Yunus Emre Foundation ... 30
CHAPTER II ... 32
MONGOLIA’S REFORMS AND FOREIGN POLICY SINCE 1990 ... 32
2.1. Mongolia’s political transition into the democratic system ... 32
2.2. Fundamental legislation and documents on a country’s foreign policy ... 34
2.2.1. The national security concept of Mongolia of 1994 ... 34
2.2.2. The concept of Mongolia’s foreign policy ... 35
2.3. “Third neighbor policy” concept of Mongolia’s foreign policy ... 37
2.3.1. Concept’s practical usage in decision-making process ... 38
2.3.2 Multilateral foreign policy of Mongolia ... 40
CHAPTER III ... 45
ACTIVITIES OF INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION... 45
AGENCIES IN MONGOLIA ... 45
3.1. United States Agency for International Development (USAID)’s operations in Mongolia ... 45
viii
3.2. Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)’s operations in Mongolia ... 49
3.3 Technical assistance of the European Union on the example of Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH) ... 53
3.4 The Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA)’s operations in Mongolia ... 56
CHAPTER IV ... 60
THE TOOLS OF SOFT POWER IN TURKEY’S FOREIGN POLICY ... 60
TOWARD MONGOLIA ... 60
4.1. Turkey’s relations with Mongolia ... 60
4.1.1. Turkey’s relations with Mongolia in historical perspective ... 61
4.1.2. The beginning of diplomatic relations between two countries and further development on political relations... 62
4.1.3. Trade and economic relationships between Turkey and Mongolia ... 66
4.1.4. Bilateral relations in the field of military and security cooperation ... 70
4.1.5. Bilateral relations in cultural field ... 73
4.2. Education as an emerging tool in the Turkish soft power narrative ... 74
4.2.1. The scholarship program provided by the Directorate of Turks Abroad and Relatives Communities (YTB -Türkiye Bursları) ... 75
4.2.2. Scholarships provided by the Turkish Religious Directorate ... 79
4.3. Development and capacity building projects providing by Turkish foreign policy implementing agency TİKA in Mongolia ... 80
4.4. Turkish Airlines (THY) in Mongolia ... 83
4.5. Beginning of the Turkish film broadcasting in Mongolia ... 84
ix References... 95
x List of figures
1. Power in international relations
2. Soft power sources, referees and receivers 3. Power in three-dimensional chess game
4. Bilateral trade relations between Turkey and Mongolia, years 5. The volume of exports in 2005- 2017 (USD thousands)
xi Abbreviation
ACD: The Asia Cooperation Dialogue
AK Party: Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi)
ASEAN: The Association of Southeast Asian Nations
ASEM: Asia-Europe Meeting
CICA: Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia
D-8 : Developing 8
DP: Democratic Party
ECO: Economic Cooperation Committee
EU: European Union
FDI: Foreign Direct Investment
GIZ: The German Agency for International Cooperation (Deutsche
Gesell-schaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit
GNI: Gross National Income
JICA: Japan International Cooperation Agency
KOICA: Korea International Cooperation Agency
MDGs: Millennium Development Goals
MoA: Memorandum of Understanding
MOTAP: Mongolia Turkish Monuments Projects
MPR: Mongolian People's Republic
MPRP: Mongolian People’s Republic Party
xii
NSC: National Security Council
ODA: Official Development Assistance
PKO: Ulaanbaatar Program Coordination Office
PRC: People’s Republic of China
RF: Russian Federation
SCO: Shanghai Cooperation Organization
SDC: Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation
SDG: Sustainable Development Goals
T.C: Republic of Turkey (Türkiye Cumhuriyeti)
TBMM: Turkish Grand National Assembly (Türkiye Büyük Millet Meclisi)
TİKA: Turkish International Cooperation and Development Agency
TNP: Third Neighbor Policy
TÖMER: Turkish language learning research and application center (Türkçe Öğretimi Uygulama ve Araştırma Merkezi)
USA: United States of America
USAID: United States Agency for International Development
USSR/SU: Union of Soviet Socialist Republics/ Soviet Union
1 INTRODUCTION
A size of a country, its economic power, geographical location and size of its pop-ulation significantly impacts the country’s foreign policy. Mongolia, taking an important geostrategic position in the region, actively seeks to identify itself as a responsible sub-ject of the international political process and deeply aware of the importance of regional stability for the successful development in its foreign relations. Mongolia is a land-locked country located between two big neighboring countries, Russia and China. In addition, Mongolia is the world’s most sparsely populated country with a territory of two times size of Turkey and a population of only three million.
Historical ties, similarities in customs and traditions and cultural backgrounds have become main roots for the Turkey-Mongolia’s relations. Two countries were estab-lished diplomatic relations in 1969 (Badamdorj, Danuu, Gagaa, 2014:31). Further tough political, cultural and socio-economic relations were inactive and stagnant until 1990. Multi-pillar system and changes in international affairs have accelerated the formation of new inside and outside environment of Mongolia. Mongolia has also adopted the precise change in objectives, strategies and priorities in its foreign policy, moving to the democ-racy and free market economy.
Openness to different cultures, new reforms and opportunities have emerged for expansion of Turkish-Mongolian relations in the political, economic cultural and educa-tional fields. Also, Mongolia defined Turkey as its “third neighbor country” in the Con-cept of Mongolia’s Foreign Policy (The Ministry of Foreign Affairs 2004) adopted in 1994 and as revised in 2011. Through the third neighbor policy, Mongolia actively de-veloped and deepened its relations with the EU, United States (US), Japan, Australia, India, and South Korea, Turkey as well as Central Asian countries and other South East Asian states (Jargalsaikhan, 2012:1-5). Turkey has been supportive of Mongolia’s transi-tion, democratic reforms and free economy since its first steps and offered political, eco-nomic and technical assistance during past two decades.
2 On the other hand, the Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi (hereinafter it is referred to “AK Party”) came to power in 2001 in Turkey. Turkey’s foreign policy’s analysts, as well as AK Party’s leading decision makers, have changed the country’s foreign policy outlook and Turkey’s involvement on the international arena has increased dramatically. It was declared that the AK Party would pursue a “different” foreign policy (Ihsan Bal, Sedat Laciner 2011:171). Since then, Turkey has begun to construct country’s policies based on this new vision, keeping in mind well-defined targets, and looking to benefit from its geographical position and historical values (Ahmet, 2008:77-96). The former Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ahmet Davutoğlu elaborates the Turkey’s cur-rent foreign policy in his book "Strategic Depth" and other academic articles.
There he argues that Turkey possesses “strategic depth” due to its history and geo-graphic position and lists Turkey among a small group of countries which he calls “cen-tral powers” (Grigoriadis, 2010:4-10). At the same time, Turkey can pursue more asser-tive power role in regional and international affairs. Turkey has become one of the rising powers in the world not only economically but also politically since 2002. And Turkey has a huge and growing market and a strategic geographical location as a gateway to European, Middle Eastern, North African and Central Asian markets.
As a mid-size economic power, Turkish economy is currently the world’s 18th and Europe’s sixth largest economy. Besides being one of the 20 largest global economies, Turkey is an important regional power. In addition to this, Turkey’s membership of a wide variety of multinational forums and organizations is illustrative of a diplomatic reach that cuts across usual groupings.
Since the establishment of diplomatic relations between two countries, Turkey has provided about $30 million in assistance to Mongolia and more than 800 young have graduated Mongolians (either privately or under inter-governmental agreements) from Turkish universities. Turkey implements its foreign aid policy through Turkish Interna-tional Cooperation and Development Agency (hereinafter it is referred to TİKA). The
3 TİKA has opened its program coordination office in Ulaanbaatar in 1994. Since then, the coordination office implemented more than 450 projects on cultural and historical mon-uments, infrastructure, humanitarian aid and educational fields.
Objective and scope
The main objective of this thesis is to examine the two countries’ social-economic, political, trade and cultural relations from 2005 to 2015. Specially, it aims to analyze the main direction and “soft power” instrument of the Turkish foreign policy towards Mon-golia during AK Party’s government. Within this scope, it will analyze the political rela-tions, economic and trade cooperation, commerce, investment, technical cooperation, humanitarian assistance, diplomatic issues, official visits, inter-parliamentary relations, agreements and multilateral relations, between Turkey and Mongolia. A further subsidi-ary aim is to offer my little contribution to the academic research on two countries’ rela-tions.
Research questions
The research work will address following primary questions:
1. What is the further perspective for two countries’ political and economic rela-tions? How to evaluate the bilateral relations prospects?
2. How to develop and expand the economic and trade relations in the modern world?
3. What are the difficulties and struggles in the two countries’ relations, if any? 4. What are the main direction and “soft power” instruments of Turkish foreign
pol-icy towards Mongolia since 2005? What is the positive and negative aspects of those instruments?
5. What are the operation of the other international development agencies in Mon-golia?
4 Limitations of the research work
There are some compulsory limitations. Firstly, the study will not only attempt to explain a “soft power” concept, its origin, tools and source but also its implementation in international politics. Also, it will focus on soft power and public diplomacy experiences through 2005 to 2015 in Turkey, as a middle- sized and newly emerging regional and global actor. Secondly, it will limit to study Mongolia’s domestic political reform and democratic transition in 1990, independent foreign policy, new concept, Mongolia’s third neighbor policy and its importance since its implementation.
Methodology
In the framework of this research work on how Turkey uses soft power tools in its foreign policy towards Mongolia and Turkey’s involvement, the research method is pri-marily based on both theoretical and practical processing between two countries’ rela-tions. It will carry out the study in following four stages. In the first stage, it is to deter-mine a soft power concept, tools and instruments in Turkish foreign policy in given pe-riod (2005-2015). Secondly, it is to seek defining the Mongolia’s domestic environment and its foreign policy strategy in new era. The third stage will be concerned with bilat-eral relationship between two countries, Turkey’s involvement in Mongolia since 2005 and prospects on Turkey and Mongolia’s relations. The last stage will be focused on international development agencies’ involvement in a country’s transition process.
The information and data are obtained through the following sources: (i) research articles, books, publications on the academic journals, periodicals, corner writings, aca-demic thesis published in English, Turkish, Russian and Mongolian (ii) official reports conducted by TİKA, WTO, USAID, JICA, GIZ and KOICA, and research& think tank centers and (iii) articles on official websites of the two countries’ Foreign Affairs Minis-tries and Embassies and interviews of scientists and relevant professors, ambassadors and researchers.
5 Organization of the research work
This research work is organized into introductory part, main four chapters and concluding part. The introductory part discusses the objective and scope of this research work, research question, theoretical framework, methodology, introduction to the theo-retical framework that will be used in this thesis and literature review. The first chapter will focus on theoretical framework of “soft power” policy, its origin and source, histor-ical background of soft power policy, Joseph Nye’s soft power, as well as Turkey’s new foreign policy, principles in a country’s foreign policy, soft power narratives and in-struments and tool in the Turkey’s foreign policy.
The second chapter will provide general discussion of Mongolia’s foreign policy since 1990, country overview, political reform and democratic transition in Mongolia, concept of Mongolia’s foreign policy as well as country’s geographical position and its balancing policy between two neighbor countries.
In the third chapter of this research work, it will be tried to compare and analysis the operations of the international cooperation agencies such as USAID, JICA, KOICA and GIZ in Mongolia for a country’s transition into democratic system and free-market economy. The concluding section will evaluate the “soft power” concept in world poli-tics, soft power instrument and tools of Turkish Foreign Policy, its implementation and practice. In addition, it will be explained prospects and development of two countries’ relations in the different area. The areas of projects and programs by international coop-eration agencies will be explained as well. In result of comparing activities and opera-tions of these cooperation agencies, promising project areas by TİKA and by implement-ing those programs how to contribute to the two countries’ relations will be considered.
Because of comparing the activities and operations of these cooperation agencies, potentially promising project areas for TİKA and implementing those programs for max-imizing a contribution to the two countries’ relations will be considered. This will be attempted by comparing the activities of international organizations working in
Mongo-6 lia and of TIKA, and some suggestions shall be made with regards to possible focus are-as for TIKA’s projects which might best stimulating relations between Turkey and Mongolia.
The fourth chapter discusses a “soft power” instrument of Turkish foreign policy towards Mongolia under the rule of the AK party. It will explore the bilateral diplomatic relations between two countries, economic and political cooperation, humanitarian and technical development assistance that provided by Turkey’s foreign policy’s implement-ing agency TİKA as a soft power tool, as well as educational investment and exchange program. Within the context of this chapter, soft power instrument of Turkish foreign policy under the AK Party is examined in comparative manner considering historical perspective of bilateral relations. And, this chapter will focus on prospects of two coun-tries’ relations and how two country’s relations will develop and expand in the future to keep today’s comprehensive partnership relationship.
7 CHAPTER I
SOFT POWER CONCEPT AND ITS TOOLS IN TURKEY’S FOREIGN POLICY UNDER THE RULE OF AK PARTY
This chapter examines a theoretical framework on “soft power” concept, its practi-cal realization in foreign policy, origin and sources, historipracti-cal background of soft power policy, Joseph Nye’s soft power concept as well as Turkey’s changing policy during the AK Party’s rule, principles of new foreign policy, soft power concept and its sources and tools in a country’s foreign policy. The key objective of this chapter is to determine a “soft power” instrument which has become one of main tools in world politics during last two decades, its first introduction into world politics and foreign policy decision making process. The chapter also attempts to explore the main principles of Turkey’s foreign policy, soft power concept and its practical tools in Turkey.
1.1 Theoretical and conceptual background
This section will be determined the theoretical meaning of “soft power” and its practical usage in world politics. To give a competent explanation, it will examine the concept of soft power by Joseph Nye, Robert Dahl as well as Turkish academicians Ah-met Davutoğlu, İbrahim Kalın and Tarik Özlük. As well as, understanding of origin, sources and resources of soft power will be given.
1.1.1. Concept of “power” in the international relations’ system
A power is one of the most important concepts in the international relations’ theo-ry and practice. Politicians and philosophers have been eager to ascertain a concept of power since the beginning of the political science. A power acted as the most common and decisive foreign policy tool in the international relations’ practice. At the same time,
8 one cannot insist that the concept of power in international relations has been studied well enough. Hans Morgentua proposes that “the concept of power poses the most diffi-cult and controversial problems of political science (Hans, 1964:37). And Robert Gilpin describes the concept of power as one of the most troublesome in of international rela-tions (Robert, 1981:14) and suggests that the number and variety of definirela-tions should be an embarrassment to political sciences.
An operational definition of power in political science is developed by Robert Dahl. According to him, power is an ability of A to get B to do something he would not otherwise do (Robert, 1981:13). This concept of power can provide condition that actors in the world politics achieve the goals of foreign policy via using those power tools. For a long time, the concept of power in the international relations system was defined by the military resource. US Military theorist Klaus Knorr argued that “power in the world politics can be regarded as the possession of abilities that enables the subject with credi-ble threats”.
Power in international relations
9 Between 1990 and 2003, Joseph Nye wrote and published many articles on soft power. Some of that publication can be regarded as an answer to the critiques by aca-demic researchers and scientists. Furthermore, researchers explored more definitions, resources and sources of soft power and outlined the boundaries of their concepts.
In 2003, there was introduced a new concept of so-called “smart power” in inter-national relations. This concept filled the gaps of soft power concept and became a complex theoretical approach and effective tool, which includes both soft and hard pow-er features for a foreign policy in intpow-ernational arena. Howevpow-er, it would be incorrect to assert that the idea of combining “soft power” and “hard power” instruments in the for-eign policy appeared only after 2003. Nye noted that the concept of “soft power” does not exclude traditional forms of hard power approaches in foreign policy.
However, traditional foreign policy strategies with support of military power should be reexamined by new approaches in the new information age. In article “Soft power”, published in 1990, he argued that as world politics becomes more complex, the appropriate response to the changes occurring in the world politics today does not aban-don the traditional concern for the military balance of power, but to accept its limitations and supplement it with insights about interdependence (Nye,1990:153-171). The term of “smart power” was firstly introduced in the book “Soft power: the Means to Success in World Politics” by Joseph Nye in 2004 and defined “Smart power means learning better how to combine our hard and soft power”.
Furthermore, he broadened that smart power means developing an integrated strat-egy, resource base, and toolkit to achieve American objectives, drawing on both hard and soft powers. It is an approach that underscores the necessity of a strong military, but also invests heavily in alliances, partnerships, and institutions at all levels to expand American influence and establish the legitimacy of American action (Nye, Armitage R, 2007: 1-17). Thus, researchers give a determination to the term of “smart power”. It is a
10 balance of “hard” and “soft” power in the foreign policy. In the article, Smart power: in search for the balance between hard and soft power: The New politics of National Secu-rity, it is redefined that the smart power originates from understanding, and that the soft power is not necessarily better and they both should be the mutually complementing components of an effective strategy (Campbell and O'Hanlon, 2006:224).
1.1.2. Origin, resources and tools of “soft power” concept
Determination of the content of “soft power” concept is inextricably linked with the study of its sources and tools, which can be both universal for most countries and have specific national characteristics. As a rule, the competition for influence at the global or regional level, it is important to identify and develop strategies to promote their interests. Countries usually focus on sources of soft power in related to their availability. Schools of international relations’ theory have discussed a concept of power and agreed on the fact that the hard (military) power has got reduced by the end of the 20th century. American political scientists consider that the strategy of soft power is one of the most effective tools in foreign policy. In this regard, researchers and academicians have at-tempted to explain the understanding of power transformation in international relations. It was considered that one of the most effective strategies in the foreign policy for the international actors is soft power. And at the end of 1980s, the term “soft power” was firstly introduced by Joseph Nye (Nye,1990:153-171) and has been popularized by him and redefined in the following years (2004, 2007 and 2011) in his books. The book “Bound to Lead” and article “soft power” published in 1990 during the period when American power was discussed to be in decline in the world politics.
He used it to call attention to the ability to get “others to want what you want (Nye, 1990 )”. Nothing that this ability to affect the preferences of others “tends to be associated with intangible power resources such as culture, ideology and institutions”, he differentiated from “the hard command power usually associated with tangible resources like military and economic strength”. So, what is soft power? Later, Joseph Nye defined
11 it is an ability to get what you want through attraction rather than coercion or payments (Joseph, 2004:5 ). It is fully defined that soft power is an ability to affect others through co-optive means framing the agenda, persuading, and eliciting positive attraction to ob-tain preferred outcomes.
Furthermore, he defined the three resources of soft power: its culture (in places where it is attractive to others), its political values (when it lives up to them at home and abroad), and its foreign policies (when they are legitimate and having moral authority) in his article “Think again”: soft power (Nye, 2006:90). As noted by him, not only culture, political values and foreign policy but also economic resources, information, education, positive internal model are resources of soft power. These resources are formed in a spe-cial way, for example through the organization of the cooperation agencies, diplomatic services, implementation of public diplomacy, exchange programs, development pro-jects and tools of mass media. It can be found the structural model of soft power, includ-ing its resources, sources and receives in the followinclud-ing table.
Soft power sources, referees and receivers Sources of soft power Referees for credibility or
legitimacy
Receiver of soft power Foreign policy Governments, media,
NGOs, intergovernmental organizations (IGOs)
Foreign governments and public
Domestic values and poli-cies
Media, NGOs, IGOs Foreign governments and public
High culture Governments, NGOs, IGOs Foreign governments and public
Public culture Media, markets Foreign public
Source: Article on Public diplomacy and soft power by Joseph Nye, The Annals of the American Academy (2005)
The proposed structure of soft power seems too simplified and even a one-dimensional. Specially, Joseph Nye ignores the religious doctrines and their influences. Many researchers also note that soft power is manifested as a combination of several
12 factors such as culture, education, arts, print and visual media, film, literature, architec-ture, higher education (universities and research centers), NGOs, science and technolo-gy, the capacity for innovation, tourism, platforms for economic cooperation and diplo-macy (Kalın, 2011:5-23). McClory expanded the three pillars by Joseph Nye and pro-posed the structure of soft power as a government, culture, diplomacy, education, and business/innovation (McClory, 2010:2-24). According to some other researchers, anoth-er classification of soft powanoth-er resources refanoth-erred to as public diplomacy, foreign cultural policy, cultural diplomacy, information policy (which includes the use of social net-works and other innovative media resources), international education policy, the human-itarian network interaction at the level of the NGOs, the use of financial and economic instruments, working to attract foreign investment and a favorable investment climate, export of mass media and consumer culture (film and music industry, IT industry, show business, etc.)
The main feature of the soft power resource lies in the fact that they are mostly in-tangible in nature. Also, it can say that soft power is a strategy, which is the creation of the recipient vision, or country image. However, good image and the “attractiveness” of the country are phenomena which are formed in the human consciousness through the impact of a variety of factors. These factors are either informational in nature or relate to satisfaction of intangible benefits, such as the provision of protection of human rights, freedom of expression, access to quality education and ethical requirements in the cul-ture of the country. Resources of soft power accumulate and are used certain instruments such as economic, social, technological, informational, ideological, political and other forces of states that implement their specific tools.
Power and influence of international actors and the main decision-making process in their foreign policy are determined by a country’s position in international relations. Joseph Nye asserts that the agenda of world politics has become like a three- dimension-al chess game (Joseph, 2004:4) in the contemporary information age. Politicdimension-al and
mili-13 tary issues belong to the top board. And actors who have a large military potential also have more influence in the world politics. Hegemony in the military field influences as to decide as they want. According to Joseph Nye, the USA is the only superpower with global military reach and it makes to speak in traditional terms of unipolarity or hegem-ony (Joseph, 2004:4 ). The middle board is an economic issue. He considers that distri-bution of power is multipolar (Joseph, 2004:4 ) and all actors in the world politics are interconnected and independent on this board.
This board requires “soft” and “hard” power instrument, and multinational compa-nies play a large role on this board. Joseph Nye considers that the leadership by one ac-tor is impossible on this board. According to him, the United States cannot obtain the outcomes it wants in trade, antitrust, or financial regulation issues without the agreement of the European Union, Japan, China, and others (Joseph, 2004:5 ).And on the bottom board of transnational issues like terrorism, international crime, climate change, and spread of infectious diseases, power is widely distributed and chaotically organized among state and nonstate actors (Joseph Nye 2004 ). On this board, power and influence are distributed among actors. After the concept of soft power became popular in the po-litical and research field, it also received critique and explanation. It is shown in the fol-lowing table:
Power in three-dimensional chess game Three –dimensional chess
game Main issue Actor (example)
Top board Political and military issue Only superpower USA (uni-polarity)
Middle board Economic issue
Multipolar
(USA, EU, China, Japan and etc
Bottom board
transnational issues (terrorism, international crime, climate change, and the spread of
infec-tious diseases)
14
Source: Soft power: The means to success in world politics by Joseph Nye (2004)
Furthermore, Joseph Nye argued about the sources of soft power. Based on how Joseph He differentiates hard power and soft power, soft power comes from its specific resources- the “soft” attributes of a state, which includes a state’s culture (in places where it is attractive to others), political values (when it lives up to them at home and abroad), and substance and style of foreign policies (when they are seen as legitimate and having moral authority (Joseph, 2004:11 ). Culture has many manifestations in a set of values and practices that create meaning for a society. It is common to distinguish between high culture such as literature, art, and education, which appeals more to elites, and popular culture, which focuses on mass entertainment (Joseph, 2004:11 ).
Political values like democracy and human rights can be powerful sources of at-traction. A government policy at home and abroad are another potential source of soft power. The values a government champions in its policies at home, in international insti-tutions and in foreign policy strongly affect the preferences of others. However, sources of soft power explored by him are not limited to culture, political values and foreign policies. He also asserts that “sometimes countries may be attracted to others with com-mand power by myths of invincibility, and comcom-mand power may sometimes be used to establish institutions that later become regarded as legitimate. (Joseph, 2004:7 ). He gives more explanation on this matter and, according to him, sometimes the same power resources can affect the entire spectrum of behavior from coercion to attraction. A coun-try that suffers economic and military decline is likely to lose not only its hard power resources but also some of its ability to shape the international agenda and some of its attractiveness. Some countries may be attracted to others with hard power by the myth of invincibility or inevitability (Joseph, 2004:9).
The effective strategy of soft power successfully influences the political and eco-nomic issues of domestic affairs. Promising researchers, scientists, foreign students and
15 migrants are attracted by good conditions of life and employment. Also, Joseph Nye noted that America already passed its challenge according to the given indications and became a leading country and received influx of foreign researchers, scientists, foreign students and migrants. The soft power that is becoming more important in the infor-mation age is in part a social and economic by-product rather than solely a result of offi-cial government action.
1.1.3. Concept of “soft power” and its introduction into the international politics The concept of “soft power” was developed by Joseph Nye in the late of 1980s. Since its introduction into international politics, foreign policy analysts in the emerging powers warmly received and used successfully to achieve their goals. Soft power differs from economic and military powers. Joseph Nye explained that soft power was the abil-ity to influence the behavior of others to reach the outcomes you want though cooptation rather than coercion (Joseph, 2004:5) in his book “Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics”. According to Joseph Nye, soft power explains “the attractiveness of a country’s culture, political notions and policies” as legitimate by others also defines that country’s soft power capacity. It refers to an attractiveness of mass, real result of the political and administrative organization, the reputation of artworks, science and tech-nology and sport achievement of that country.
The modern system of international relations is experiencing universal transfor-mation and its key manifestations of new historical approach. New measurements in the world politics are expanded the legal, economic, informational, ethical and other com-ponents. It is searching a new form of interstate interaction, cooperation and competition considering the interests of actors in international political issues against the globaliza-tion and transformaglobaliza-tion processes. The transformaglobaliza-tion processes can lead to the for-mation of a new world system and status of the power centers. The implementing tools of country’s foreign policy vary from one era to another, and most important is an ability to use various policy instruments such as “hard” and “soft” power in effective applicable way under the various circumstances. During the bipolar world system, the dominant
16 trend was to build up a “hard power”, that referred to as military and economic power (Joseph, 2004:31) in their foreign policy.
Today, the soft power became an influenceable tool for many countries in interna-tional affairs. Because, it allows to create a government and public opinion, which will contribute to the realization of the national interests of both traditional and new global players. In the modern world, all global geopolitical actors such EU, the US, China, Russia and Japan, rising powers like India, Brazil and Turkey have policies to strengthen its soft influences on neighboring regions and around the world. The implication of the traditional “hard power” in the decision-making process of foreign policy becomes risky and not that popular. Global actors in modern world prefer to implement the priority factors of the “soft power” including achievements in the field of science, technology, education, social institutions, culture and art along with the military and economic re-sources. As well as, culture is become an integral part of foreign policy of the modern state, because the culture has a special role to implement the objective of foreign policy strategy, that aimed at strengthening the international competitiveness of the state and ensuring favorable external conditions for its development.
1.1.4. Critique of the “soft power” concept by Joseph Nye
A concept of soft power has been popular among political researchers and scien-tists since it’s rise in world politics. Researcher was divided into two opposite camps: criticizing and entirely accepting. A definition of term was in popular magazines on for-eign affairs and but still immature as a development of theory. In relation to this matter Giulio Gallarotti assets that the concept of “soft power” is developed well as a theory. The concept has evolved little theoretically, and its historical applications have been limited and far from rigorously executed (Gallarotti, 2011:2-52). Furthermore, Ernest Wilson considers that soft power and public diplomacy tend to frame their arguments poorly; their positions are often politically naïve and institutionally weak (Wilson ,2008:110-124). Alexander L. Vuving states that these popular understandings are mis-understandings, the question arises as to why they are popular and persistent. It is
note-17 worthy that the concept has been misunderstood not only by the lay public but also by experts in the study of international politics (Vuving, 2009:5-20).
Soft power is a power to attract. According to Vuving, there are three generic power currencies: beauty, brilliance and benignity. Benignity is an aspect of the agent’s relations with others, especially with a client of soft power. It refers to the positive atti-tudes that you express when you treat people, especially when you treat a client. Benig-nity as a power currency works on the tendency of reciprocal altruism that exists in most, if not all, organisms. Brilliance is an aspect of the agent’s relations with its work. It refers to the high performance that you accomplish when you do things. Brilliance as a power currency works on the tendency of human beings to learn from the successes of others. It generates soft power through the production of admiration. Beauty is an aspect of actors‟ relations with ideas, values, causes, or visions. It refers to a neat resonance that is evoked when you represent ideas, values, causes, or visions (Vuving, 2009:5-20).
Also, researcher Daya Thussu notices that despite Nye’s focus is primarily on the United States, and the vagueness associated with the rather amorphous concept of soft power, it has been adopted or adapted by countries around the world as an increasingly visible component of foreign policy strategy (Thussu, 2014:5-31). The sequential critic Ying Fan agrees with Nye’s notion of soft power is largely ethnocentric and based on the assumption that there is a link between attractiveness and the ability to influence others in international relations (Fan, 2008). Ying Fan is one of the accepted researcher who discusses on critique for soft power. It is considered that the “Soft power: Power of Attraction or Confusion?” written by him in 2008 is the most known article which is addressed to critique of Joseph Nye’s soft power concept.
He asserts that Nye’s soft power is new concept neither theoretical nor practical. Furthermore, he writes in his article that Sue Ce, Confucius and Lao-Dzy discussed on soft power long years ago. Researcher Christian Lane and Craig Hayden give a more
18 detailed notion of the term. Craig Hayden notes that soft power encompasses three broad categories: (a) influences, (the force of an actor’s argument, and perhaps most important, (c) the attractiveness of an actor’s culture and institutions (Hayden, 2012).
1.2. The understanding of soft power concept in turkey’s foreign policy and its practical tools
This subsection will focus on main principles of modern Turkish foreign policy, soft power tools in Turkey’s foreign policy and the main political phenomenon AK party since 2002 in the Government of the Republic of Turkey.
1.2.1. The basic principles of modern foreign policy of Turkey in the international arena
Today, Turkey plays a leading role in its regional and global geo-economic mech-anisms (including establishment of the new energy and communication system). The country specifically focused on formation of an external security belt. A distinctive fea-ture of Turkish foreign policy is the presence of a deeply defined conceptual framework. Reflecting the political views and ideology of the AK Party, it combines the elements of the established Kemalist, moderate Islamist and modern approaches to issues of interna-tional relations, democracy and human rights, which enjoys broad support in the society.
The concept of Turkish foreign policy relates to name of Ahmet Davutoğlu, Head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs since 2002. In his book "Strategic Depth" (2001), Ahmet Davutoğlu found a good balance between traditional Turkey, depressed imperial complexes ("new Osmanism") and adapted to the realities of regional approaches, char-acteristic of the western political science. The main idea of this phenomenon is known as the "Turkish model”.
19 And the key idea of the “Strategic Depth” by Ahmet Davutoğlu consists of combi-nation of such targets and such role of Turkey as a regional leader and increasing its influence in global politics using geopolitical position at the junction of two continents and civilizations, historical experience, economic and cultural attractiveness for its neighbor countries. The main and potentially dangerous feature of the current stage of international relations in Turkey considers that the cold war ended without collective agreements based on the new world order. Noting the serious weakening of international mechanisms of deterrence, including the nuclear non-proliferation, Ankara favored re-tention of the key role of the UN, update the concept of Euro-Atlantic security, which would include Russia, and especially actively supports the new international organiza-tions (for example, Group of Twenty (G20).
A peculiar task of diplomacy in Ankara is seen to harmonize the responsibility as a member of NATO, with distinct line in regional affairs. This approach is motivated by the fact that Turkey is a multinational country, and therefore conflicts in the Balkans, South Caucasus and Middle East matters for Ankara and the domestic component. Hence, in the concept of the "strategic depth" linked with the "zero problems with neighbors”. The main purpose of this foreign policy concept is to form stability around Turkey. As noted in the SAM papers by Center for Strategic Research, the concept of zero problems with neighbors focused on six pillars: i) equal security for all ii) economic integration iii) the coexistence of different cultures in the respectful manner iv) high-level political cooperation v) a high high-level regional consciousness and vi) understanding the relationship between security, stability and development (Yeşiltaş, Balcı, 2013:14-15).
The concept is also a task of active mediation in settlement of deferred, “frozen” conflicts around the Turkish borders from Cyprus to Iraq including Iran, Syria and Isra-el. Ankara was in favor of a systematic approach to emerging issues, formulation of principles for settlement of regional conflicts in the Middle East, Central Asia or
Bal-20 kans giving a priority to the use of “soft power” while maintaining the capacity of eco-nomic and military influence. However, Turkey has clearly demonstrated its mediation efforts in high profile but low efficiency. It should be borne in mind that in its real for-eign policy Turkey is rigidly pragmatics, ready to defend its interests, in the East and West. Hence, for example, a fundamentally different position on Iraq - "anti-Western" and Kosovo or Syria - "pro-Western", as well as the underlying practical activity on the international scene of the principle of "Rhythmic diplomacy". In accordance with this principle, Turkey is a non-permanent member of the Security Council, headed by three important UN Committee on Afghanistan, DPRK and the fight against terrorism, chaired the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, acts as an observer for the League of Arab States and the African Union. In general, it can be noted that Turkey, with all the contra-dictions and difficulties in its policies in the international arena, is getting a serious and considerable global player.
1.2.2. Searching for a “soft power” in Turkey’s foreign policy
A new approach in Turkey’s foreign policy is based on the doctrine of “Strategic Depth” by Ahmet Davutoğlu, the chief architect of modern Turkish foreign policy, for-mer Minister of Foreign Affairs and the prime minister, has acquired an extra dimension in implementation of the "soft power" of Turkey, cultural diplomacy is reflected some-times as cultural expansion. This new foreign policy strategy has become the main con-cept of modern Republic of Turkey and a foundation of the theory of new Osmanism. Turkey seeks to resolve all problems in relations with neighboring countries, or at least as close as possible to minimize. The main basic elements of a new approach to Turkey's foreign policy is security for all, political dialogue, economic interdependence and cul-tural acceptance. The foreign policy of Turkey largely determined its democratic system, it serves as a reflection of the priorities and interests of citizens.
Democratization of Turkey demanded the integration of public needs in foreign policy. Thus, the historical and cultural conditions, the democratic nature of the state, dynamic economy, the younger population and "zero problem with neighbor countries"
21 connected to the principle by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s stating "peace at home, peace in the world", which is a basis of Turkey’s "soft power". Turkey’s "soft power" concept can be defined as non-traditionally. Traditionalism lies near the Egyptian state model, characterized by a "hard power" and possessing the historical-cultural legitimacy, and the novelty is defined "policy of zero problems" with the neighboring countries (Rubin, 2010:9). During the second period of the AK Party’s rule, authorities have made efforts to make Turkey "center of power". Furthermore, country increases the activity of Tur-key in the international organizations, such as "Group of 20", the Organization of Islam-ic Cooperation (OIC). It is worth noting that the partnership relationship with a partner on the "Top 20" Brazil. Turkey is seeking to increase its influence in Latin America. In 2009-2010, Turkey was the temporary member of the UN Security Council.
1.2.3. The arise of the AK Party in Government of Turkey
In the first decade of the 21st century, internal and external changes have had a positive influence on soft power of Turkey. The main internal change in Turkey’s for-eign policy was the establishment and coming to power of the AK Party, which has a moderately conservative direction and oriented to the western values. As a result of par-liamentary elections on November, 2002 the AK Party, based on moderate Islamic iden-tity, rose to power and formed an one-party government led by the party leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The newly formed government was concerned on domestic economic issue and forming view of the world order for its first election years. The ruling party has proclaimed a new course of transformation of the country into one of the leading economies of the world. In the early years of the AK Party’s rule, Turkey enjoyed out-standing economic growth and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s policies facili-tated urbanization. The party was also able to institute policies that led to a significant growth of the middle class (Brock, 2014:1-10).
The main purpose of this policy was search of new markets to increase trade, at-tracting foreign investment and ensuring working opportunities for young and dynamic
22 populations. The “new” foreign policy strategies based on ideas from the book Strategic Depth: The International Position of Turkey, by Prof. Ahmet Davutoğlu, that was pub-lished in 2001. In his book, Ahmet Davutoğlu has formulated the power of a country in the international arena, in a “power equation”: (h+g+p+c+ec+tc+mc) X (sm+sp+pw) (Davutoğlu, 2012:121). Here, history (h), geography (g), population (p), and culture (c) constitute the constant parameters of power while economic capacity (ec), technological capacity (tc), and military capacity (mc) constitute the potential parameters of power. The coefficients, on the other hand, are strategic mentality (sm), strategic planning (sp), and political will (pw). In Ahmet Davutoğlu’s opinion, Turkey is a central country with multiple regional identities and Turkey is a Middle Eastern, Balkan, Caucasian, Central Asian, Caspian, Mediterranean, Gulf and Black Sea country at the same time (Davutoğlu, 2007:77-96).
In the first election period of 2002 to 2007, the AK Party was more concerned about Turkey’s domestic economic transformation and leadership in its regional area. Particularly in the early years of the AK party’s rule, policymakers focused on domestic economic growth and stabilization. Europeanization of Turkey has become the main objective of the new government, especially in the first term period. For instance, an international conference on Turkey’s Foreign Policy in a Changing World: Old align-ments and new neighbors (University of Oxford& Sabanci University , 2010:2-64) was held in 2010 at the Oxford University. The conference addressed issues of Turkey’s for-eign policy in wide historical context. Panelists and presenters highlighted the connec-tion between foreign policy and domestic policy, especially in case of soft power and soft politics in a changing world.
The reforms carried out in the sphere of democracy, human rights and minority rights positively influenced the "soft power" of the country. They reduced a level of in-fluence of the military on the country’s policies and strengthened civil society in Turkey. The reforms also led to closer integration of new actors, such as businesses and civil
23 society organizations, in the foreign policy of Turkey. During the second period (2007-2011), the Government of the AK Party has become increasingly focused on cultural proximity with its neighboring countries. For instance, in this election period, the Yunus Emre Institute was established and rapidly opened its cultural centers in neighboring, targeted regions Central Asia, Europe, Arabic and African countries. Also, the Public Office was founded under the Ministry of Foreign Relations. The origin of these offices, objectives, and its current activities will be written in the next sub-chapter. In addition to the geo-strategic significance of the development of democracy and growing economy of Turkey became the main objectives for multidimensional and proactive of Turkish foreign policy.
AK Party leaders declared that Ankara’s foreign policies would depend on certain key principles which can be described as multi-dimensionality, zero-conflict with neigh-bors, balance between security and democracy, acceptance of Turkey as a central state in diplomacy in the region, resort to a more active and pro-active diplomacy as well as “strategic depth”, “rhythmic diplomacy”, existing soft power rather than a hard one. Ac-cording to Ahmet Davutoğlu, Turkey conducts its foreign policy in this new era while several of those principles stand out and will continue to be a guiding point. To imple-ment the above-imple-mentioned directions of foreign policy, he points “a) paying utmost at-tention to defend the country’s national interests and will also pursue a value-based for-eign policy; b) Turkey’s position in this great historic transformation process, we will act with self-confidence in Turkey’s ability to meet the aforementioned challenges c) Turkey’s foreign policy will be conducted autonomously and d) the country will pursue a vision-oriented foreign policy (Ahmet, 2012:4-6).
The basic principles of the foreign policy of Government formed by AK Party have been
Balance between security and democracy: providing security to citizens without undermining their freedoms;
24 Proactive and pre-emptive peace diplomacy: facilitating regional
reconcilia-tion processes;
Multi-dimensional foreign policy: diversifying Turkey's alliances to avoid dependence on any actor. NATO and the EU remain the elements of conti-nuity;
Rhythmic diplomacy: participating in all important global issues and interna-tional organizations (Carmen-Cristina Cîrlig, 2013:1-8);
As noted above, the key principles of Turkey’s foreign policy were based on three methodological ways as (i) visionary approach, (ii) systematic and consistent framework for Turkish foreign policy; and (iii) soft power promotion.
1.2.4. Soft power instruments in Turkish Foreign Policy under the AK Party
The concept of “soft power” and its instruments explored by Joseph Nye has found grounds in the foreign policy of modern Turkey. This section will attempt to analyze the conceptual basis of the Turkish soft power practice and experience. As discussed in the section 1.1.1 above, the American political scientist Joseph Nye introduced the term of “soft power” in 1990 (Nye, Soft Power, 1990:153-171). Since then, scientists and politi-cians have been trying to give their interpretation and explanation on “soft power” con-cept and its tools in the foreign policy and world politics. There are different points of view regarding the reasons and conditions for formation of the Turkish "soft power" potential. Turkish scholars, researchers and policy makers consider that AK Party has played a decisive role on country’s soft power practice. Turkey’s soft power capacity will be explained as a confluence of the country’s history, geography, cultural depth, econom-ic strength and democracy.
The AK Party has introduced the soft power institutions such as Yunus Emre Foundation and its implementing tool Turkish cultural centers in aboard, the Office of
25 Public Diplomacy, the Presidency for Turks Abroad and Related Communities after its ruling the government. As well as, dramatic changes had shown in the activities on TİKA. According to İbrahım Kalın, various factors feed the soft power: culture, educa-tion, arts, print and visual media, film, poetry, literature, architecture, higher education (universities, research centers), non- governmental organizations, science, technology, the capacity for innovation, tourism, platforms for economic cooperation and diplomacy (Kalın, 2011:5-23). Furthermore, he stresses that soft power emerges as a combination of these elements and gives an idea about a county’s culture richness and social capital. The activities of Turkish Airlines (THY), Turkish International Cooperation and Development Agency (TİKA), and Directorate of Turks Abroad and Relatives Communities (YTB) have become more effective to promote the Turkey’s history, culture and customs in the Balkans, Middle East, Central Asia, and African countries as well as Latin American countries.
1.2.4.1.The Turkish International Cooperation and Development Agency
The TİKA is known as an implementing agency of Turkey’s foreign policy. The TİKA was established to provide a development support for newly independent Central Asian countries in 1992 after the collapse of the Soviet Union. TİKA’s functioning pur-pose is to strengthen economic, commercial., technical, social, cultural and educational programs and projects; execute processes related with contributions, assistance and other relevant processes; and carry out tasks conferred upon TİKA by the laws (T. C. Agency). TİKA is one of public institutions which directly carries out its activities under the Prime Minister and the official implementing agency of Turkish foreign policy in the Middle East, Caucasus, Central Asia, Balkans and Africa. As a tool of soft power, TİKA has implemented numerous projects on education, health, capacity building development, training of experts, agricultural development, financing infrastructure projects, financing the projects on school and hospital rehabilitation and modernization since its establish-ment.
26 It can be observed that TİKA’s activities were limited in its geographical scope in the first years of its operations. According to Pınar Ipek (Ipek, 2015:173-193), changes in TİKA’s activities are divided into three major time periods: (i) the early period, from its establishment in 1991 till May 2001 (when its administrative status was changed); (ii) the transition period, from 2001 to 2004 when (Turkey’s ODA was harmonized with the development assistance committee’s rules of classification and reporting) and (iii) the late period, from 2004 until 2010. Since the AK Party’s rule to government, it has been ex-panding the scope and direction of TİKA’s activities. For example, 28 program coordina-tion offices (TİKA, 2011) were operated in 25 counties as of 2010 and it is being increas-ing to 58 in 60 partner countries. Those program coordination offices are workincreas-ing with public institutions and local stakeholders and have been implementing aid programs through collecting necessary information about the country.
The Turkish development assistance is provided through the TİKA. Turkey aims to reduce poverty and contribute to the sustainable development of the partner countries, including through development of human resources and, contributing to achievement of their Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). TİKA activity is not limited to only those countries in which the offices exist, TİKA implements projects in more than 100 coun-tries in four key areas: social infrastructure and services, economic infrastructure and its services, manufacturing services, and multisectoral directions. In the period from 2002 to 2010, there were signed 6714 projects (T. C. Agency, 2014), which is 3 times more than in the period 1992-2002.
In 2012, the total cost of the assistance provided by Turkey, reached 1.5 billion dol-lars. Official development aid has become an integral part of Turkish foreign policy. Turkey increases the volume of ODA in countries affected by conflict or natural disas-ters, since one of the main tasks of the foreign policy of the country is the maintenance of a peaceful and stable situation in the neighboring countries. The statistics of the ODA of Turkey are prepared by TİKA. A small number of Turkish non- governmental
organiza-27 tions (NGO) participated in the activities of TİKA to deliver the Turkish aid. TİKA has specialized programs to strengthen civil society in recipient countries. Development and capacity projects and programs that provided by TİKA to Mongolia, will be discussed in the 3rd chapter of this research work.
1.2.4.2.TÜRKSOY (International Organization for Turkic Culture)
The economic impact of Turkey is reinforced by a cultural influence that develops through the International Organization for Turkic Culture (TÜRKSOY). As an instrument of the soft power in other countries, Turkey moves to the Central Asian countries. The International Organization for Turkic Culture (TÜRKSOY) was formed during the 3rd meeting of the Ministers of Culture of the Turkic Speaking countries; Azerbaijan, Ka-zakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Its mission is to carry out activities to strengthen the ties of brotherhood and solidarity among Turkic people with a view to transmitting their common cultural heritage to future generations and promoting it around the world (The International Organization of Turkic Culture). It’s founding purpose is stated in the TÜRKSOY Journal, “to protect the Turkic culture and heritage, promote it to the other countries, to increase the cultural relationship, to overcome cultur-al barriers, to identify the purpose of the mutucultur-al Turkic culture, to establish an archive and documentary center for Turkic culture and its related issues, to protect Turkic culture from other culture’s effect, to maintain the alphabet and language unites among Turkic speaking countries (Turkic Republics) and society (TÜRKSOY, 2000:1-67)”.
The working language is Turkish and the headquarter of this organization is in An-kara. The International Organization for Turkic Culture is a first organization of promot-ing the cultural integration through its activities among the Turkic world and not only plays an important role in strengthening ties between Turkey and Turkic speaking coun-tries but also makes contribution on social and cultural performances. The activity of this organization is getting broader from year to year. As of today, the organization has
