Employing Smart Power in Turkish Foreign Policy in the Middle East after 2011

Abstract

      Turkey has activated its smart power in the Middle East region within an integrated  strategy that works to  combine  hard and  soft power to  fill the gaps  resulting from the use of one of them  individually to choose the appropriate  method  to direct  the  appropriate  sources of power to  achieve  the  goal , as a result  of  the transformations  that  affected the  structure  of the Middle  Eastern  regional  system that  were  produced  by  the Arab Spring revolutions  in it, which was clearly  manifested  through the partnerships it  has  concluded with  some to push  them to adopt  the model  it  has exported, such as in Egypt, for example, the changes witnessed by the Middle East region in the difference in the distribution of power have made security  concerns a major determinant of Turkish foreign policy tools in the region ,in the midst of what has become a threat to Turkish national security and its strategic interests ,especially with the danger of the spread of cross- border crime networks, weapons, irregular migration and terrorism problems, which were considered a test of Davutoglus   principles of zero problems with neighbors, which Turkey has  adopted since the Justice  and Development Party took power in it ,and because of its certainty that soft power alone is incapable of achieving its desired  goals, it has deliberately used force in its rough side and even worked  to combine different types of power, according to the doctrine of the Blue Homeland  "Mavi Vatan" which was considered  the strategy   by which Turkiye Under it, whether militarily or diplomatically, to enhance Turkiyes position as a prominent and  influential regional power in the region .moves the Middle East.