Turkey's soft power poli̇cy toward North and East Afri̇ca

Soft power is a concept that has existed since a long time.As a concept in academic literature and scientific terminology, the term was first coined by Joseph Nye in 1990. In recent past, after the collapse of hard power in foreign policy groundwork, many countries began to endorse soft power concept. Recently, Turkey started practicing soft power through promoting various institutions in different countries. Besides, North and East Africa were among the areas of Turkish soft power's foreign policy. When we look at the historical proceeding of Turkish foreign policy, we observe a fluctuating relationship with Turkey and these regions since the Ottoman Empire era. Some periods were marked by warm bilateral relations, while others relations were frozen. However, in recent years and based on new foreign policies cores which practiced soft power, Turkey has attained a notable positive improvement in its relationship with the regions. Turkey's soft power policy toward North and East Africa composed of three factors; state which drew up diplomatic mechanisms, civil society which played the central role, and private sector which took a supportive role. Through the combination of these three factors, Turkey has made significant achievements in North and East African bilateral relations. The outcome of this study indicates the interplay between all three factors to carry out the above-mentioned accomplishment. Moreover, one of the most important conclusions of this study is that soft power has become an indispensable policy tool. Keys Word: Soft Power, North and East Africa, Turkey, Civil Society.