Cumhuriyetin Yüzüncü Yılında Türkiye'nin İnsani Diplomasisinin Evrimi : Sosyal İnşacı Perspektif

Abstract

Turkish foreign policy is well known with its special emphasis on humanitarian diplomacy as increasingly witnessed in recent years not only in formal discourses, but also in practice. Türkiye stands today among the leading humanitarian states in the world. The article aims, on the occasion of the centenary of the Turkish Republic, to provide an analysis of the evolution of this humanitarian diplomacy with emphasis on a social constructivist perspective. The constructivist approach, in its conventional form, does not provide an alternative, but a complementary explanation to world affairs where political realism is dominant, without rejecting the latter. This approach helps to better explain how states' foreign policies are constructed, and how states can perceive the external material world, where states are required to act rationally
 
 Methodologically, the article follows an interpretive and descriptive analysis of the policy outputs through constructivist tools, such as discourse analysis, historical and ideational studies. In the article several relevant data is analysed as shown in the tables and charts therein.
 
 Foreign policy is all about pursuing, attaining, preserving and improving the defined national interests of a state. The article argues in this context that Turkish humanitarian diplomacy based on the balance between conscience and power can be seen as a good example to test the role and importance of humanitarian approaches in pursuing such interests. Having started to deploy soft power elements more effectively by diversifying its foreign policy options, Türkiye has expanded the geography of its humanitarian assistance and developed a humanitarian diplomacy perspective that transcends the realist-idealist dichotomy in discourses. with its emphasis on the above-mentioned factors, social constructivism acts as a complementary tool to the realist ones for a better analysis of Türkiye’s humanitarian diplomacy to make it more comprehensive and holistic.