Turkey: Hard and Soft Power Controversy – Dimensions and Challenges

Summary

The paper analyzes how Turkey transforms its hard power, represented by military power, into a soft power, by using it in smart ways in regional conflicts, such as the Gulf crisis, Syria, Libya and Azerbaijan. It also analyzes how Turkey uses military force and how far this use differs from the use of hard power by other countries in the same conflicts, and the implications of that use on the results of those conflicts as well as interaction with them. The paper also deals with forms of Turkish military interventions, and how the use of hard power led to the rise of Turkey’s soft power more than ever, unlike what usually happens when other countries use their hard power.