Abstract
TURKISH CULTURE: TURKEY’S SOFT POWER IN THE BALKANS
Along with its suitable and effective domestic and foreign policies, soft power potential of a country determines the success of public diplomacy as well as its military and economic power. The term soft power also denotes how a country is seen worth appealing and being modeled by the others. Joseph Nye, who developed the concept soft power, defines it as the power of attraction of a country’s culture, political values and policies. If the policy of a country is regarded as legitimate by the others, soft power capacity of that country increases.
Turkey’s soft power is different from the other countries soft power in terms of its profile and scope. Soft power potential of Turkey, which involves the Balkans and extends to the inner parts of the Middle Asia, derives from its historical and cultural depth rather than military or technological superiority.
In this context, the Balkans, one of the areas where Turkish history and culture have still been alive, is one of the important soft power areas of Turkish diplomacy.
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Keywords
The Balkans, Soft Power, Turkish Culture, Public Diplomacy, Folklore.
