Armenia as Object of Influence of Turkish Policy of “Soft Power”: Difficulties, Successes and Prospects

Abstract

Despite the fact that Turkey was among the first to recognize the independence of Armenia on December 24, 1991, diplomatic relations have not been established between the countries to this day. In the first decade of the 21 st century, there were attempts to normalize relations, but they were unsuccessful. After the Second Karabakh War, Turkey resumed efforts to normalize relations. The article discusses the importance of Armenia for Turkey, presents the tools of the Turkish policy of “soft power”, a separate emphasis is placed on the existing obstacles that impede its advancement in this country. One of the main objectives of this article is an attempt to evaluate the effectiveness and research the results of Turkey’s soft impact policy in Armenia. The authors studied public opinion polls, speeches and statements of politicians, opinions of labor migrants and representatives of the Armenian community in Turkey, publications in the media, scientific works of scientists from both sides on this topic. The authors found that the absence of diplomatic relations is not a barrier to the policy of “soft power”. To achieve its foreign policy goals, Turkey uses all kinds of tools not only of “hard” but also “soft power”, such as various funds, media, the Armenian diaspora in Turkey, etc. If in other South Caucasian states Ankara pursues a policy of “soft power” with the help of state and non-state organizations, then in Armenia, due to the lack of diplomatic relations, only with the help of non-state actors.