Turkey's public diplomacy activities in Iran

The concept of power, which is not based on a precise definition and concrete measurements, dates back to the first periods of political relations. The concept of soft power, which was brought to the International Relations literature by Joseph Nye in 1990, has added a new dimension to the sources of power with the increasing international communication with globalization. In this direction, states have begun to conduct public diplomacy activities with the idea of directing and persuading the public with right and known information. With the prepared thesis, Turkey's public diplomacy activities in Iran were tried to be revealed in the context of the sources of the concept of soft power, which has come to the fore in line with the changing foreign policy understanding in the world and in Turkey recently. This study, among the academic studies carried out in Turkey, is important in terms of evaluating the public diplomacy activities of Turkey in Iran for the first time together with various fields. In the thesis, first of all, the concepts of power, soft power and public diplomacy are explained. Afterwards, Turkey's public diplomacy activities in the world and the institutions operating in this direction have been discussed. Finally, in the context of soft power resources, Turkey's activities has been discussed by interpretting its possible influence in Iran. The answer to the question put forward in the thesis study is that the cultural activities implemented by Turkey on Iran will contribute more to Turkey's soft power. Keywords: Power, Iran, Public diplomacy, Soft power