Understanding Turkey’s Emerging “Civilian” Foreign Policy Role in the 2000s through Development Cooperation in the Africa Region

Authors : Gonca OĞUZ GÖK, Emel PARLAR DAL

Pages : 67-100

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Publication Date : 2016-01-01

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :This paper attempts to understand the gradual “civilian” shift in Turkish foreign policy in the first decade of the 2000s through its development cooperation activities in the Africa region. To this aim, by applying the “civilian power” role concept developed by François Duchêne, it first investigates how Turkey’s 1 domestic democratic and economic preconditions, 2 normative commitments, and 3 power instruments evolved throughout history to make it possible to talk about an emerging “civilian role” in Turkish foreign policy during the first decade of the 2000s. Then it looks more closely at Turkey’s civilian foreign policy practice through the “development cooperation” activities of the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency TİKA across Africa and specifically in Somalia throughout the 2000s. Finally the paper will question whether this specific development cooperation policy has so far been successful in constructing a credible “civilian foreign policy role” for Turkey in the Africa region
Keywords : Turkish Foreign Policy, Civilian Power, Civilian Foreign Policy Role, Development Cooperation, Africa, Somalia