Kamu Diplomasisi Olarak Türkiye’nin Covid-19 Yardımları
Covid-19 Aid and Public Turkish Public Diplomacy

Author(s): Abdulmennan Baycar
Subject(s): International relations/trade, Health and medicine and law
Published by: Transnational Press London
Keywords: public diplomacy; soft power; smart power; Covid-19 aids; disaster diplomacy;
Summary/Abstract: Joseph Nye defines "smart power" as the most efficient use of soft and hard power. While hard power uses pressure and intimidation tools, the soft power aims to influence the decisions of the interlocutors thorough soft power means by "winning heart". As public diplomacy is a tool in which soft power is manifested, such a diplomacy becomes more meaningful especially in times of disaster. Greece's assistance to Turkey in the 1999 earthquake has gone down in history as one of the most well-known examples in Turkish foreign policy and has been regarded as a milestone for the melting of the ice in Turkish-Greek relations. The Covid-19 outbreak, which started in China in the last months of 2019, and was seen in countries such as Iran and Italy in the first months of 2020, captured even the most developed countries in surprise. During this pandemic, an explosion of demand for masks, gloves and other hygiene items to combat the disaster. Due to the globalization of the disaster, the advantages of globalization that were accumulated for years have been replaced by a nationalist supply race. In this process, disaster diplomacy has gained importance as a public diplomacy that includes the materials aid required for the epidemic against nationalism. There is no doubt that traditional and pessimistic news on the internet have a great impact on this importance. While the mask race has become inevitable even within national borders, disaster relief of states to other nations has been seen as an effective method of winning heart. However, one aspect of these aids that is unique to Covid-19 is that contrary to what is expected, it includes not only developing African and Asian countries, but also global powers such as the United States, United Kingdom, Spain, Italy and China. This study deals with the ways in which Covid-19 aid is used as a public diplomacy tool. However, while this disaster diplomacy aims to win the hearts of the helped party, it is also effective in creating the goal of development and being a great state in the domestic public opinion. This study reports the national and international media and think tanks, news and other broadcasts using Turkey's soft power tool, especially its public diplomacy as applied in the first period of the epidemic demonstrates the disaster diplomacy. National publications subject of domestic public opinion reflects the direction of international publications with pictures that Turkey wants to build outside the "heart gain" will exhibit their purpose.

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