Soft power and the challenges of private actors: Turkey - Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) relations and the rising role of businessmen in Turkish Foreign Policy

When the new Iraqi constitution was proclaimed in 2005, Kurds obtained the opportunity to build a de facto state in the north of Iraq. As a neighbour state Turkey has involved in the infrastructure construction of Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) through the activities of businessmen although the formation of a Kurdish state in the Middle East was a taboo in Ankara’s foreign policy. These business activities allowed to Turkey and KRG to build bilateral political relations as well as to strengthen Turkey’s soft power in the region. At the same time, as their activities were considered compatible with the state’s foreign policy strategies Kurdish businessmen of Turkey benefited from these activities to reintroduce a minority question into the domestic political debate. This article shows how by using their capacity for transnational action, a group of non-state actors contributes to state’s soft power and challenges at the same time the state in order to strengthen its influence in domestic politics. Through the case of Turkey’s businessmen in KRG, this article analyzes how the concept of soft power gains a larger definition as a means for private actors

Suriyeliler’in Türkiye’ye zorunlu göçüne dair paradoksal algılar: İstanbul muhtarları örneği

As one of Syria’s neighbors, Turkey has become a refuge for more than 3.5 million forced Syrian migrants. Though many of them are living in Turkey’s border cities, in or around the refugee camps, many others have already dispersed to other cities. Among these cities, Istanbul has the largest Syrian community. Drawing on a qualitative field work in Istanbul’s neighborhoods, this study explores the Syrian migration to Istanbul and reports the attitudes towards this movement of the local neighborhood and village headmen, known as muhtars in the Turkish local administrative system. As the study shows, their attitudes towards forced Syrian migrants are paradoxical, marked both by feelings of disturbance, worry and uneasiness, and at the same time welcome and support. The study concludes by discussing historical and cultural reasons for these paradoxical attitudes by relating them to the understanding of hospitality in Turkish society to show how socio-psychological explanations of attitude formation towards Syria’s forced migrants seem more appropriate.Suriye’ye komşu ülkelerden biri olan Türkiye, yerinden edilmiş üç buçuk milyonu aşkın Suriyeli’ye sığınak oldu. Sınır kentlerinde bulunan mülteci kamplarında ve bu kampların çevresinde yoğun olarak yaşayan Suriyeliler İstanbul başta olmak üzere ülkenin pek çok büyük kentine de dağılmış haldeler. İstanbul’un mahallelerinde, Türkiye’nin bürokratik örgütlenmesi içinde yerel yönetim sisteminin en alt kademesinde bulunan mahalle yöneticisi muhtarlar nezdinde gerçekleştirilen bir saha çalışmasına dayanan bu makale, İstanbul’daki Suriyeli göçüne yakından bakarken söz konusu yerel yöneticilerin bu göç hareketi karşısındaki tutumlarını incelemektedir. Çalışma, muhtarların Suriyeli göçüne ilişkin tutumlarının çelişkili nitelikte olduğu ve özellikle, endişe, huzursuzluk, misafirperverlik ve destek gibi birbiriyle çelişkili sayılabilecek unsurlar çerçevesinde şekillendiğini ortaya koymaktadır. Söz konusu çelişkili tutumun tarihsel ve kültürel sebeplerini Türkiye toplumunun misafirperverlik anlayışıyla ilişkilendirerek tartışan çalışma, tutum oluşumuna yönelik yazında yer alan sosyo-psikolojik açıklamaların yerinden edilmiş Suriyelilere yönelik tutumları değerlendirmek için daha uygun olduğu sonucuna ulaşmıştır