SHANGARAEV R.N. Ideology as a Soft Power Tool in Turkish Foreign Policy
R.N. SHANGARAEV Candidate of Sciences (economics), researcher at IAMPof the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Moscow, Russia
IDEOLOGY AS A SOFT POWER TOOL IN TURKISH FOREIGN POLICY
Turkey is beginning to rapidly increase its political and diplomatic presence in various regions, primarily in the post-Soviet space, presenting itself as a" big brother " for the Turkic republics or as a strategic partner in order to strengthen its position in the region and to secure the role of a mediator in solving problems and resolving disputes, which contributes to strengthening of its role in foreign policy processes, and is expressed, inter alia, in the export of values and cultural expansion.
Key words: soft power, Westernism, pan-Islamism, pan-Turkism, international security, Kemalism, strategic interests, Turkey, Russia, CIS.
The object of research in this article is the features of the modern Turkish foreign policy in its historical development, that is being transformed from osmanimanism to Kemalism and pan-Turkism, and its impact on the relations with Russia. In general, the basic ideology of the Turkish Republic in the last two or three decades are increasingly intertwined and "synthesized." It is often difficult to determine where Kemalism ends and neo-osmanism or Islamism begins, which is a reflection of the objective process of the interpenetration of the two main political elites, the development of a certain compromise between them. The article uses the methods of political-historical and comparative analysis to determine the place and role of relations between Russia and Turkey on the geopolitical map of the Middle East of Central Asia. The main conclusions are that the modern foreign policy concept of Turkey can be characterized as a policy of turbulent pragmatism or as a policy of national interests, in the understanding that is inherent in the leadership of the country at a certain point in the political situation, when foreign policy decisions are made based on the benefits of the short and medium term, and despite the crisis in the bilateral relations between Russia and Turkey, the fundamental parameters and strategic objectives of the sectional cooperation between the two countries remain.
The soft power used by many countries as attractive and attracting force should have obvious value content. Turkey's awareness of this fact was the result of the transformation in Turkish foreign and domestic policy. Thus, it seems necessary to consider the issue of ideological content of Turkey's policy, because it is in the sphere of ideology that a series of fundamental shifts in Turkey's approach to the issue of values have taken place as an expression of its socio-political consciousness, which resulted in a radical revision of the vector of its domestic and foreign policy development.
The key ideological levers that Turkey actively uses in its foreign policy in the era of globalization are the ideas of pan-Turkism and pan-Islamism, which meet the challenges facing the state.
The idea of pan-Islamism was formed in the second half of the XIX century, and of course its goal is a return to classical Islam, in which the priority is given to confessional community over the ethnic one. The idea of pan-Islamism met the interests of the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire Abdul Hamid II, and this idea was vital for the continued existence of the Ottoman Empire at the beginning of the XX century. However, this idea was developed in the 1990s by the government of N. Erbakan who became the first Islamic Prime Minister of the country. The main proclaimed purpose was a rapprochement with the countries, the majority of the population of which was Muslim, and Turkey acted as the creator of the so-called Islamic group of eight, an organization which acted as a kind of an alternative to the Big eight, and which became a political victim of the latter.
The idea of pan-Turkism can be considered in the context of a broader concept of pan-turanism, which consists in the creation of the great Turan, the ancestral home of the Turkic peoples stretching from the Balkans to Eastern Siberia .
After the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and the Declaration of the Republic by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, a new ideology was defined, which was called Kemalism. The ideology was focused on the transition of the Turkish Republic from a country with an Eastern, Islamic tint to a Western, more secular way of social and political life, i.e. the formation of Ataturk's nationalism.
Mustafa Kemal Ataturk carried out large-scale reforms in the country in order to westernize the state, as well as perceived the nation solely as a cultural community that is capable of creating its own state.
The ideology of Kemalism has long been a key in the domestic and foreign policy of the country. However, with the coming to power of the Justice and Development Party in 2002, there was a gradual shift in the perception of the methods of formation and implementation of domestic and foreign policy of the country. This kind of orientation has developed and strengthened since the time when the post of Foreign Minister was occupied by Ahmet Davutoglu, Professor of the University of Bakent, with an academic past, seriously influencing his views in foreign policy. Davutoglu, who was a follower of the school of liberalism, has not only formed a foreign policy concept, which includes a wide range of issues and areas of Turkey's influence, but also theoretically justified the interest of Turkey in a number of regions – from Europe to Africa and from China to the Balkans.
In his study, devoted to the analysis of Turkey's foreign policy prospects “Strategic depth: the international situation of Turkey,” Davutoglu formulated the idea that the geopolitical changes of the late XX - early XXI centuries, as well as the processes of globalization put on the agenda the issue of identity, which did not attract due attention during the cold war . In this regard, according to Davutoglu, Turkey, which was established in the early twentieth century as a nation-state, should recall its Ottoman past, which defines a special "strategic depth" of Turkish foreign policy and imposes a number of geopolitical obligations on the country. The formation of a new foreign policy strategic thinking, based on historical and cultural wealth and geographical location, gives impetus to Turkey's foreign policy and also provides for the country's role as a regional and global actor in international relations.
The key work of Davutoglu for the first time spoke about the need for Turkey to move away from the classical Western, primarily European, vector of its foreign policy and considere its identity in a broader sense, i.e. not only as the Turkist, within the framework of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's nationalism, but also as Islamists of Turkic dimensions. Secularization, which caused the rejection of Islamic identity and the loss of contacts with a number of countries that in the distant past were part of the Ottoman Empire, had a negative impact on the relations of the Republic of Turkey with the countries of the Middle East, which was not in the strategic interests of modern Turkey .
The end of the cold war had an impact on the transition of the world from an equitable, sustainable state to a state of active and permanent transformation. If earlier Western NATO partners regarded Turkey as an ally, which is supposed to pursue a policy of deterrence, especially military, in respect of neighboring countries and countries in the region, and it slowed down the country's own foreign policy, at the present stage, Turkey, having ceased to be an instrument of foreign Western policy, needs not only to switch to an independent formation of the regional political agenda, but also to determine the methods through which this transformation will be carried out. Davutoglu tries to draw the public's attention to the concepts of values, culture and rich history. In this case, Turkey's active presence in the region should be ensured not only by the development of economic ties, but also by integration processes that are based on the ideas of cultural and historic commonality.
The range of Turkey's interests in their regional dimension is quite wide. Davutoglu listed such areas as: the Middle East, the Balkans, the Caucasus, the Mediterranean, the Caspian, the Central Asian and the Black Sea region. Such a wide geography dictates the need to define a new strategic approach to foreign policy: the rejection of the classical role of the bridge between the West and the East, which allowed Turkey to become to some extent a mediator in the interests of other countries, and a search for a new foreign policy subjectivity by using the potential of Turkey's soft power, based on its cultural and historical ties with the region.
The need for foreign policy changes is seen in two dimensions: the multi-vector nature of foreign policy makes it possible to avoid clashes on the international political field, ensuring a balance of forces and interests, and the implementation of the policy of "soft power" in respect of a number of countries becomes the guarantor of the security of the Republic.
Davutoglu, justifying his foreign policy concept, relied on the civilizational approach, arguing that in the modern world the concept of civilization as a cultural, historical and religious community, is relegated to the background of the concept of ideology. According to Davutoglu, at the end of the cold war, a number of regions in the world (primarily in Eurasia) became voids within the boundaries of geostrategic lines and formed free space for geopolitical maneuvers of both major world players and the neighboring countries.
The Muslim world, located in strategically important areas, is a zone of interest for a wide range of countries, because it is a kind of a node, an intersection of routes from West to East and from North to South. It is common knowledge that a number of Middle Eastern countries have huge reserves of minerals, and primarily energy resources. While Turkey does not possess such reserves, it has a special geostrategic position. The establishment of friendly relations with Muslim energy exporting countries and the use of its own transit potential can ensure a stable future and energy security of Turkey .
The former Prime Minister of Turkey and the author of the country's modern foreign policy, Davutoglu, proposed the idea of mutual exchange of values and civilizational dialogue as one of the ways to achieve balance and harmony in the world political system, focusing on the possibility of Turkey as the successor of the Ottoman Empire.
The attitude to the Ottoman past, as a common space-time continuum for many peoples, allows Turkey to present its experience as a potential common denominator for resolving crises and problems, creating a new regional dynamics within the Eurasian continent, with the inclusion in this process of not only ethnically and linguistically close, but also distinct peoples. In other words, Turkey's foreign policy, often referred to as "neo-Ottomanism", aims to spread its influence over a number of regions and peoples, using the rhetoric of the common Ottoman past.
Inclusion in the zone of its influence of the countries of the Middle East and the Balkans regions, as well as the ambitious foreign policy of promotion aimed at Africa, Asia and Latin America require Turkey to realize the impossibility of applying to such regions of the classic American foreign policy the "carrot and stick" model. In accordance with these considerations, the Turkish foreign policy is based on the idea of common historical destiny and mutual development of cultures.
In general, the modern foreign policy concept of Turkey can be characterized as a policy of turbulent pragmatism or as a policy of national interests, in the meaning that is inherent to the country's leadership at a given point in the political situation, when foreign policy decisions are made based on the benefits of the short and medium term.
BIBLIOGRAPHIC LIST:
1. Avatkov V., Badranov A. "Soft power" of Turkey in the internal politics of Russia // Pravo I upravleniye. XXI century. – 2013. – № 2 (27).
2. Ataev A.V., Bordyuzha N.N., Velikaya A.A., Guzenkova T.S., Zhiltsov S.S., Zonn I.S., Ivanov O.P., Ivanov S.E., Kostyanoi A.G., Kohtulina I.N., Kuzmina E.M., Lagutina M.L., Mastepanov M.A., Medovnik M.V., Moselle K.N., Moselle T.N., Neimark M.A., Trojankiy M.G., Tsvetov P.Y. Modern world politics. Tutorial / Diplomatic Academy of the MFA of Rossii. – М., 2018.
3. Bazhanov E.P., Bazhanova N.E. Where is humanity going? // Scientific and analytical journal Obozrevatel – Observer. – 2009. – № 6 (233), № 7 (234).
4. Vertyaev K.V. Islamic factor in the political life of Turkey // Islam in the modern East: the region of the Middle East, South and Centeral Asia / In-t of Oriental studies. Akademy of Sciences, Institute of studying of Israel and the Middle East / Ed. editors: V. J. Belokrinitskiy and A. Z. Egorin]. – Moscow: Institute of Oriental studies RAN: Kraft+, 2004.
5. Gilyazov I. Turkism: formation and development (characteristics of the main stages). Textbook for students in the East studies. – Kazan: Kazan State University, 2002.
6. Zhiltsov S.S., Zonn I.S. Caspian region at the crossroads of geopolitical strategies // Central Asia and the Caucasus. – 2014. – № 1.
7. Medvedev N.P., Bekbosynov M.B., Gayduk V.V., Generalski P.S., Ketsyan G.V., Maistat M.A., Perkova D.V., Solov'ev D.S., Sutthisangiam S., Hussain Ali M.M., Ivaina M. Ethno-political regional studies: Russian and international dimension. Collective monograph. Proceedings of Prof. N. Medvedev scientific school / Executive editor: N. P. Medvedev. – M., 2016. Issue 10.
8. Fadeeva I.L. Concept of power in the Middle East. Middle ages and modern times. Second edition. – M.: "Vostochnaya literatura" publishing company RAN, 2001.
9. Hodgson M. History of Islam: Islamic civilization from birth to the present day / Per. with English. H. A. Gordienko, I. V. Matveeva, N. In. Shevchenko. – M.: Eksmo, 2013.
10. Shangaraev R.N. "Mutualism" or the peculiarities of Turkey's foreign policy towards Russia // Voprosy bezopasnosty. – 2017. – № 1.
11. Erbakan D-8'i kurmak için direndi / Yeni Şafak. – URL: http://www.yenisafak.com.tr/politika/erbakan-d-8i-kurmak-icin-direndi-494293.
12. Grigoriadis I.N. The Davutoglu Doctrine and Turkish Foreign Policy // Middle Eastern Studies Programme / Bilkent Uiversity. – 2010. – № 8.
13. Şener B. Dış politikada yumuşak güç olgusu / 21.Yüzyıl Türkiye Enstitüsü. – URL: http://www.21yyte.org/tr/arastirma/politik-sosyal-kulturel-arastirmalar-merkezi/2014/02/10/7423/dispolitikada-yumusak-guc-olgusu.