An illusionary power of seduction?

Abstract

This paper questions Turkey’s “soft power” capacity in the Arab world and Middle East region. It attempts to analyse the role of the different actors involved in the projection of Turkey’s “soft power” vis-à-vis the Arab world. The paper distinguishes between public/governmental and private/non-governmental agents producing “soft power” and examines the interaction between them. The analysis first focuses on the conceptual framework that underlies Turkey’s paradigm shift from hard power to cultural, or “soft,” power in the Middle East. In particular, it examines the key elements of the “strategic depth” theory, or the so-called “Davutoğlu doctrine,” and shows how a new vision for Turkey’s international role and cultural attractiveness has been formulated. The paper then examines the tools and instruments used to project Turkey’s cultural power in the Middle East: in particular, the export of soap operas [diziler] to the Arab world and the launching of an Arabic-language TV channel (TRT Al Arabiyya). The author attempts to identify the actors involved in each of these strategies. Finally, the paper offers an assessment of the real impact of Turkish soap operas and TRT channel in the Middle East. It stresses the limits of Turkey’s “soft power” in the region both in terms of conceptual/theoretical relevance and contextual efficacy, and examines the impact of the Arab uprisings on Turkey’s projection of soft power vis-à-vis the region. The author concludes that Turkey’s cultural power has thus far produced limited outcomes and has had few tangible positive effects in increasing Turkey’s general power capacity in the Arab world.