Turkish cultural diplomacy in sub Saharan Africa: The case of Benin Republic

The world has witnessed a significant shift in the international relations after the Cold war. The soft power has risen along with the hard power in diplomacy and international relations fields. Globalisation and the spreading of the technologies of information and communication have also facilitated and accentuated the phenomenon. Cultural Diplomacy is the fact that countries use their soft power potential (education, culture, science, art, sport etc.) instead of army forces, weapons and others to impress, and get closed to each other (Snow, 2009, 3). Besides, Africa has always been for several reasons of great interest for developed countries including Turkey. Falling into Cultural Studies main field, this study aims to look for the cultural elements used to influence people's mind, perception and actions in the framework of cultural diplomacy by bringing light on education and scholarship programs, intercultural communication, humanitarian aids, their actors and their purposes. As a result, a closer look at Turkish cultural diplomacy in Benin Republic, compared to pioneer countries like France and the USA is based on a liberal model by delegation approach. The study reveals that Turkish cultural diplomacy's main purposes are political and economic. And the mechanism used is composed of: the Turkish embassy, the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA), YTB scholarships and Non-profit organisations. In this study, documentary analysis and semi structured interviews with 25 participants with relevant profiles were used to collect data. Content analysis technics and NVivo qualitative analysis software were used to process collected data.