Turkey's Public Diplomacy

With its complex political history, its strategic location, and its determination to play a larger role in world affairs, Turkey is a rising power in the international arena. Turkey's Public Diplomacy is the first detailed English-language study of Turkey's public diplomacy. A theme running throughout the chapters is Turkey's quest for influence and how it tailors its public diplomacy to meet diverse needs - working warily with Iran, reemerging in former Ottoman territory in the Balkans, reaching out to the 'virtual state' of Kurdistan, providing humanitarian aid to build a reputation as a valuable ally, among other examples. Emerging from this book is a picture of Turkey as a nation expanding its influence and possessing an increasingly sophisticated approach to international relations. Like some other nations, notably China, Turkey is relying not on military muscle but on softer forms of power as the key element of its strategy. Public diplomacy is an essential part of the foundation on which this strategy is built.

B. Senem Cevik is Assistant Professor at Ankara University, Turkey, and teaches public diplomacy at the Faculty of Political Science and is on the advisory board of the Ankara University Center of the Study and Research of Political Psychology. She is the co-editor of Turkey's Foreign Policy and Public Diplomacy and author of International Public Relations and Humanitarian Aid: A Public Diplomacy Perspective, both in Turkish. She serves on the membership board of International Dialogue Initiative (IDI).

Philip Seib is Vice Dean of the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California, USA. He is also Professor of Journalism and Public Diplomacy and Professor of International Relations. His recent books include The Al Jazeera Effect, Toward a New Public Diplomacy, and Real-Time Diplomacy.