A Research on Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency's Public Diplomacy Activities in Afghanistan

Abstract

With the effect of globalization, the traditional diplomacy has transformed, and an understanding of public diplomacy based on civil society, public opinion and soft power has emerged. Since the 2000s, Turkey has reshaped its foreign policy and brought the concept of soft power to the fore. In this framework, Turkey has begun to give more importance to public diplomacy activities. This study aims to evaluate the public diplomacy activities of TIKA, one of Turkey's most important public diplomacy institutions, on the example of Afghanistan. For this purpose, it has been tried to reveal the effect of public diplomacy practices on the relations between Turkey and Afghanistan by investigating the impact of TIKA activities on the Afghan people. In this context, interviews were held with academics in Afghanistan regarding the activities of TIKA. The effect of public diplomacy activities implemented by Turkey through TIKA in Afghanistan was evaluated on the basis of the obtained data. The impact of the public diplomacy activities implemented by Turkey in Afghanistan through TIKA was evaluated over the data obtained as a result of the interviews. As a result of the evaluation, it was concluded that the activities of TIKA, a public diplomacy institution, strengthened the positive perception of the Afghan people