Despite the fact that Turkey was among the first to recognize the independence of Armenia on December 24, 1991, diplomatic relations have not been established between the countries to this day. In the first
decade of the 21 st century, there were attempts to normalize relations, but
they were unsuccessful. After the Second Karabakh War, Turkey resumed
efforts to normalize relations. The article discusses the importance of Armenia
for Turkey, presents the tools of the Turkish policy of “soft power”, a separate
emphasis is placed on the existing obstacles that impede its advancement in
this country.
One of the main objectives of this article is an attempt to evaluate
the effectiveness and research the results of Turkey’s soft impact policy in
Armenia. The authors studied public opinion polls, speeches and statements of
politicians, opinions of labor migrants and representatives of the Armenian
community in Turkey, publications in the media, scientific works of scientists
from both sides on this topic.
The authors found that the absence of diplomatic relations is not a barrier to the policy of “soft power”. To achieve its foreign policy goals, Turkey
uses all kinds of tools not only of “hard” but also “soft power”, such as various
funds, media, the Armenian diaspora in Turkey, etc. If in other South Caucasian states Ankara pursues a policy of “soft power” with the help of state and
non-state organizations, then in Armenia, due to the lack of diplomatic relations, only with the help of non-state actors.
Turkey, Armenia, South Caucasus, foreign policy, “soft power”