Soft power in international relations and public diplomacy policies in Turkey

The concept of soft power has become one of the agenda-setting terms in the field of international relations since it emerged in the early 1990s, when globalization gained momentum. The term has become more controversial, especially with Joseph Nye. Soft power is fed by spiritual resources such as political values and foreign policy. For this reason, it has attracted and continues to attract the attention of many great actors. This study examines Turkey's soft power and public diplomacy practices along with the developments in major countries in the world. Geopolitical location and geography, military capacity, economic situation, values, politics, culture and history are very important in shaping Turkey's soft power resources. The aim of this thesis is to examine the transformations in Turkish foreign policy in terms of soft power policies by revealing the public diplomacy policies that Turkey pursues in the international arena. In this study, literature review was used as a qualitative research method. In this context, based on public diplomacy studies and how it has progressed, the studies of public diplomacy institutions such as TIKA, Yunus Emre Cultural Center and TURKSOY have been evaluated. These new foreign policy actors, which have become visible especially with the 2000s, are discussed with a multidimensional perspective, covering political, economic and cultural fields, as an example of the dialogue Turkey has developed in world politics. In the thesis, the importance of soft power in the field of public diplomacy in Turkey is revealed, but unlike the soft power practices in the world, it has been seen that these activities of Turkey in the foreign policy arena are generally in the form of cultural interaction activities and humanitarian aid strategies shaped in line with Turkish cultural values and traditions. .