The effect of economic and political relations on Turkish Airlines' route decisions

This thesis research aims to put a clear understanding on strategic decisions and activities of Turkish Airlines as a part of the public diplomacy, in other words, soft power. Since the 1980s, Turkish Airlines made an important contribution to Turkish foreign policy. The company has often been used as a tool of public diplomacy. This situation increased significantly after the declaration of the Africa Opening Policy. The objective of this study is to investigate the relationship between economic and political decisions made by Turkish authorities and the private sector and the strategic decisions of Turkish Airlines. For this purpose, an analysis of data considering 9 countries which are Colombia, Latvia, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Cameroon, Mali, Madagascar, Chad and Ghana, is conducted to figure out whether there is such a relationship. The findings suggest that, there is a positive correlation between traffic numbers and foreign trade. However, a significant result can be obtained by adding revenue per flight, detailed passenger number and increase in the sample countries. Both values, traffic numbers and export level increased significantly after the opening of the embassy in the chosen countries, these actions were supported by other means of soft power such as TIKA and DEIK.