Turkey's relations with the Turkic Republics in the context of cultural diplomacy as a tool of public diplomacy

After the Cold War, the understanding of power in the international system has changed. Soft power and public diplomacy concepts, fed by a country's culture, political values and foreign policy, have found a place in international relations. Public diplomacy can be briefly defined as the desire of a state to express its institutions, habits, traditions and culture to the international community. In this context, as a result of the relations established with the help of cultural diplomacy, which has an important place in public diplomacy, acquaintance between societies increases and an atmosphere of trust is formed. Due to its historical and cultural ties, Turkey interacts with the Turkic Republics. Turkey strives to be active in the region by establishing cultural communication in areas such as culture, art, language, religion, education, media, literature, together with national institutions such as Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency, Presidency of Religious Affairs, Presidency for Turks Abroad and Related Communities, Yunus Emre Institute and regional institutions such as the International Turkic Culture Organization and Organization of Turkic States. In this study, Turkey's cultural diplomacy activities Turkish World, the role and importance of these activities in terms of Turkey's relations with Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan were tried to be examined. In this study, it will be tried to answer the questions of what are the cultural diplomacy activities for the Turkic Republics where Turkey has a cultural and historical unity, through which institutions it carries out the activities, and whether it is successful in developing its relations with the Turkic Republics within the framework of cultural diplomacy. The study consists of five main sections: Introduction, Conceptual and Theoretical Framework, Turkey and Cultural Diplomacy, Turkey's Relations with the Turkic Republics in the Context of Cultural Diplomacy, Conclusion. In the thesis, first of all, the concept of public diplomacy, which is an element of soft power, was mentioned, cultural diplomacy was handled as a sub-branch of public diplomacy, cultural diplomacy was evaluated within the framework of social constructivism theory and the effectiveness of Turkish cultural diplomacy and its reflection on bilateral relations were tried to be illustrated. It has been concluded that Turkey has achieved significant success in the cultural diplomacy activities that it has carried out since the independence of the Turkic Republics. KEYWORDS: Public Diplomacy, Cultural Diplomacy, Soft Power, Turkish Republic, Turkic Republics