Turkey's soft power and public diplomacy after 2002: Instruments, practices and effects

The soft power which has been dealt by Joseph Nye rather as an analytical concept than a theory, has become the policy tool of many countries in international politics in recent years. Countries are in an effort to attract others to themselves with rational policies by implementing soft power which is more difficult than hard power in terms of applicability. Turkey too, has recently focused on applying soft power to reach the Turkish citizens abroad and the peoples of other countries. After 2002, Turkey's foreign policy has been rebuilt through a number of principles. Of these principles, Soft power has taken place as a factor in the renewed Turkish Foreign Policy understanding. This study, which presents a conceptual analysis of the use and importance of soft power is to address the soft power of Turkey after 2002. Accordingly, Turkey's cultural interaction activities, political values, foreign policy principles and practices are included in this study. This study which takes into account that soft power applications take place over a long period of time, focuses on the concept of public diplomacy as well, which is effective in increasing soft power capacity. During the period from 2002 until today, it is possible to reach the conclusion that Turkey has prepared and carried out many projects in different fields through various means within the scope of it's soft power politics.