Maarif Foundation as an element of soft power in Turkish role of international relations

In the emerging new world order, states act in the desire to show their spheres of influence outside their borders, to protect and develop their regional or global interests, as in the past. Achieving these goals makes it inevitable to use force today, as they did yesterday. This power used can be "Hard Power" in which war or economic methods are used, or it can be in the form of "Soft Power", which is introduced to the international relations literature by Joseph S. Nye, which manifests itself in the form of being followed more and arousing attraction. In the world order that has changed as a result of globalization, states direct their foreign policies with their transnational institutions and organizations. In this context, Turkey has renewed its foreign policy and switched to cultural diplomacy based on foreign aid. Turkey, which has rich and deep-rooted cultural values, is increasing its soft power capacity with newly formed institutions and organizations. Education, in a sense, can be defined as an attempt to control the future by redefining the human resources that societies have. States carry the purpose of development by increasing their qualified human staff thanks to the education systems they have. In this context, there is a close link between development and education. The solution projections of the developed countries in global-scale events are followed by other countries and become a measure to indicate their positions. This position is literally associated with the concept of soft power. One of Turkey's prominent institutions in the international relations equation and foreign policy practice is the Turkish Maarif Foundation. Thanks to the mission it has undertaken, the Turkish Maarif Foundation is not only an active promotional tool in Turkey's spheres of influence beyond its borders, but is also seen as one of the soft power elements it uses in its foreign policy. The Turkish Maarif Foundation is of great importance in terms of protecting Turkey's global interests by interacting in terms of culture and civilization in the countries where it is located. The Foundation acts as a bridge between Turkey and the world in the field of international education. For these reasons, it would be appropriate to research the subject and bring it to the literature.