T.C. ISTANBUL KULTUR UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE OF GRADUATE STUDIES THE CONTRIBUTION OF IHH’S HUMANITARIAN ACTIVITIES IN THE SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST ASIA TO TURKIYE’S FOREIGN POLICY MA Thesis by Aqmal Ahsan Mohamed Reeza 1900001100 Department: International Relations Program: International Relations Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hazal Papuççular SEPTEMBER 2023 T.C ISTANBUL KULTUR UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE OF GRADUATE STUDIES MA Thesis by Aqmal Ahsan Mohamed Reeza 1900001100 Department: International Relations Program: International Relations Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Papuççular Members of Examining Committee: Asst. Prof. Dr. Ahmet Cemal Ertürk Asst. Prof. Dr. Radiye Funda Karadeniz SEPTEMBER 2023 i ACKNOWLEDGMENT All praise be to God for keeping me steadfast throughout my graduate studies and thesis. Thanks to my beloved parents and wife for motivating me from the very beginning to complete this work of mine at any cost. And I Express my deep gratitudes to my supervisor, Associate Prof. Dr.Hazal PAPUÇÇULAR for bearing with me and sparing her valuable time to go through every part of my thesis and correct my mistakes, complement my efforts and make her creative criticism over the passages which she thought would enhance this valuable work of mine if modified. I feel honored to have worked under her supervision. I will also not forget to thank Prof. Dr.Mensur Akgün, my fırst supervisor who had given me some guidance in the very beginning of my journey before I sought the help of Ms.Papuççular. Finally, I am extremely grateful to the Institute of Graduate Studies of Istanbul Kultur University for the support lent to complete this thesis successfully. AQMAL AHSAN MOHAMED REEZA ii Üniversite : İstanbul Kültür Üniversitesi Enstitü : Lisansüstü Eğitim Enstitüsü Dalı : Uluslararası İlişkiler Programı : Uluslararası İlişkiler Tez Danışmanı : Doç. Dr. Hazal Papuççular Tez Türü ve Tarihi : Yüksek Lisans – Eylül 2023 ÖZET Bu tez, uluslararası sivil toplum kuruluşlarının, bir Devletin diğer devletlerle olan dış ilişkilerinde etki yaratma konusunda önemli bir rol oynayabileceğini İHH- Türkiye örneği üzerinden iddia etmektedir. Özellikle 1990'ların sonlarında Soğuk Savaş'ın sona ermesinden sonra gelişen dinamik dünya düzeninde STK'lar büyük önem kazanmaya başladılar. Her ne kadar devletlerin askeri gücü veya çok uluslu şirketlerin ekonomik gücü gibi güçlere sahip olmasalar da STK'lar herhangi bir güç kullanımına başvurmadan dünyanın her yerindeki her topluma ulaşmalarında, benzersiz bir şekilde geliştirilmiş olduğu stratejileri ile etkilidirler. Bu özellikleri, bünyelerinde olduğu devletlerin uluslararası ilişkilerinde etki yaratmalarını sağlar. Bu tez, İHH'nın saha çalışmalarından elde edilen kaynakları kullanılarak, İHH'nın sadece bir yardım kuruluşu olmadığı, zaman zaman insani yardım savunuculuğu da yaptığı ve devletin dış ilişkilerinin gelişmesinde nasıl bir etki yarattığını, böylece Türkiye’nin imaj ve yumuşak gücüne olan olumlu katkısının buluşuna yol göstermiştir. Anahtar Kelimeler: Sivil Toplum Kuruluşları, İHH, Uluslararası İlişkiler, yumuşak güç iii University : Istanbul Kultur University Institute : Institute of Graduate Studies Department : International Relations Programme : International Relations Supervisor : Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hazal Papuççular Degree Awarded and Date : MA – September 2023 ABSTRACT This thesis claims that International non-governmental organizations can play a major role in having an impact in the foreign relationship of the States concerned, by having IHH’s example over the state of Turkiye. NGOs began to gain high prominence in the dynamic world order that evolved especially after the end of Cold War in the late nineties. Although they don’t possess powers like military power those of the states nor economic power those of the multinational companies, NGOs are powerful and influential themselves in their nature; with their uniquely developed strategies that help them to gain access to all the places and reach all kinds of communities around the world without having to resist nor resort to the use of force. These characteristics make them have an impact over the international relationship of the states. This thesis is prepared by using the sources from the field work of IHH, by genuine examples of how it has acted not only as an aid provider but also as humanitarian advocate at times and how its actions have influenced the improvement of foreign relationship of the state of Turkiye thus paving way to the finding of their positive impact over the image and soft power of the Country. Keywords: Non-governmental Organizations, IHH, International Relations, soft power iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENT ................................................................................ i ÖZET ............................................................................................................... ii ABSTRACT ................................................................................................... iii LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................................... vii ABBREVIATIONS ..................................................................................... viii 1: INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................... 1 1.1 Turkish State and Soft power diplomacy .............................................. 5 1.2 The reason behind the selection of IHH for the thesis .......................... 7 1.3 Literature Review..................................................................................... 9 1.4 Methodology ........................................................................................... 14 2.TURKISH FOREIGN POLICY & HUMANITARIANISM ................ 15 2.1 A brief look of Humanitarianism in the Ottoman Era ....................... 15 2.2 Ataturk’s Foreign Policy & Humanitarianism outlooks .................... 16 2.3 Post World War 2 and Turkiye ............................................................ 18 2.4 AKP’s foreign Policy .............................................................................. 19 2.5 Turkiye’s Asian Policy: Asia Anew ...................................................... 22 v 3: HUMANITARIANISM AND THE TURKISH STATE ...................... 28 3.1 Humanitarianism and its scope/s .......................................................... 29 3.2 Soft power aspect of Humanitarian actions ......................................... 30 3.3 Turkiye’s enterprising and humanitarian foreign policy ................... 32 3.4 Humanitarianism and AKP .................................................................. 33 3.5 Turkiye’s position in International Humanitarianism and statistics 35 3.6 State sponsored aid Organizations of Turkiye .................................... 37 3.6.1 TIKA .................................................................................................... 38 3.6.2 TÜRK KIZILAY ................................................................................. 38 3.6.3 Turkiye Diyanet Vakfı ........................................................................ 39 4: IHH AS A TRANSNATIONAL ACTOR .............................................. 40 4.1 Post-Cold War era and Globalization .................................................. 40 4.2 Transnationalism and the emergence of Transnational Actors ......... 41 4.3 International Humanitarianism ............................................................ 42 4.4 Establishment of IHH, Scope and causes behind the Establishment. 43 4.6 Instances of interaction with international politics ............................. 46 5. ACTIVITIES OF IHH IN THE SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST ASIA: AN ANALYSIS BASED ON FOUR SAMPLE NATIONS ............................. 55 5.1 Pakistan ................................................................................................... 57 5.2 Bangladesh .............................................................................................. 61 5.2.1 The Arakan issue, Bangladesh and IHH ........................................... 64 5.3 Sri Lanka ................................................................................................ 68 5.4 Thailand .................................................................................................. 70 vi 6: ANALYSIS OF INTERRELATIONSHIP OF THE FOUR SAMPLE NATIONS WITH TÜRKİYE ..................................................................... 76 6.1 Pakistan ................................................................................................... 76 6.2 Bangladesh .............................................................................................. 80 6.3 Sri Lanka ................................................................................................ 84 6.4 Thailand .................................................................................................. 86 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................. 90 BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................ 95 vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1 International humanitarian assistance, 2015–2019. “International humanitarian assistance.” Global Humanitarian Assistance Report 2020, p.29 ........ 35 Figure 2 20 contributors of the largest amounts of international humanitarian assistance. “International humanitarian assistance.” Global Humanitarian Assistance Report 2020, p.35 ....................................................................................................... 36 Figure 3 IHH South Asia Desk Coordinator, Thailand, email, 2022 ........................ 72 Figure 4 IHH South Asia Desk Coordinator, Thailand, email, 2022 ........................ 73 Figure 5 IHH South Asia Desk Coordinator, Thailand, email, 2022 ........................ 75 viii ABBREVIATIONS NGO : NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION IHH : İNSAN HAK VE HÜRRİYETLERİ VAKFI UN : UNITED NATIONS GDP : GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT NATO : NORTH ATLANTIC TREATY ORGANIZATION AKP : ADALET VE KALKINMA PARTİSİ (JUSTICE AND DEVELOPMENT PARTY) ECHR : EUROPEAN CONVENTION ON HUMAN RIGHTS PKK : PARTİYA KARKEREN KURDİSTAN (KURDISTAN WORKERS’ PARTY) TIKA: TÜRK İŞBİRLİĞİ VE KOORDİNASYON BAŞKANLIĞI (TURKISH COOPERATION AND COORDINATION AGENCY ASEAN: ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS MIKTA : MEXICO, INDONESIA, REPUBLIC OF KOREA, TÜRKİYE, AUSTRALIA ICRC : INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE OF THE RED CROSS UNRWA: UNITED NATIONS RELIEF AND WORKS AGENCY FOR PALESTINIAN REFUGEES UNHCR : UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES OXFAM : OXFORD COMMITTEE FOR FAMINE RELIEF OECD : ORGANIZATION FOR ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT MILF : MORO ISLAMIC LIBERATION FRONT ix TPMT : THIRD PARTY MONITORING TEAM OIC : ORGANIZATION OF ISLAMIC COOPERATION 1 1: INTRODUCTION The base for modern day Humanitarianism was introduced in the enlightenment era in the 18th century while missionary activities were carried out in colonized countries around the world. There had been a significant improvement of this practice in the war fields, to explicitly portray certain standards for humanitarian assistance in the 19th century. Humanitarianism attracted more attention with the increase of internal wars and the operational hardships faced during the early 90s, which could also be described as the post-Cold War era. This is the period where the Non-governmental Organizations began to gain prominence and become widely known, because of the humanitarian mission carried out by them in war tone areas. They entered Countries and regions even before many states did and, on some occasions, they entered places even which states could not. This way they did not just reach the people in need but also merely became their voice, the oppressed and silent individuals. After the end of Cold War, NGOs became prime forces in contributing towards the progress of Democracy and Human rights everywhere in addition to their humanitarian role. For example, the NGOs play a vital role in protecting the dignity of individuals when it’s threated by the power of the state; they fight the violations either directly or by test cases through relevant courts, they offer direct assistance to those whose rights are violated, they involve in lobbying for changes to regional, national or international laws and helping their substance developed and promoting knowledge of, and respect for, human rights among the population.1 During the war in Kosovo (1999), Afghanistan (2001) and Iraq (2003) we could witness a different paradigm of humanitarian mission. The principles of humanitarian aid serves for the protection of human rights as we all are aware. But it was violated frequently with these wars with the guise of ‘Humanitarian Wars’ and the humanitarian aid agencies began to receive funds from the Governments who started the wars. Another significant example where humanitarianism was put to test was during the destruction caused by Tsunami in South and Southeast Asia in 2004. It can be termed as one of the biggest and 1 Patricia Brander et al., eds., “Human Rights Activism and the Role of NGOS,” Compass manual for human rights education with young people, 2nd ed. (Hungary: Council of Europe Publishing,2020), pp.420-425 https://www.coe.int/en/web/compass/human-rights-activism-and-the-role-of-ngos 2 worst natural destructions of our times which claimed around 230,000 lives in total and left more than 2 million people homeless. More than $6.25 billion was pooled in through a central UN relief fund to assist 14 Countries that were affected starting from Indonesia to Sri Lanka who were the biggest victims.2 The response for this crisis was as never seen before and we witnessed a generous gesture by the whole world, especially by the western Nations at such a dire situation. One of the major man-made crises causing hundreds and thousands to die and millions to displace would be the post-Arab Spring period starting from 2011. Tunisia, being the cradle of the revolution has now a democratically elected Administration. Syria on the other hand though, is the worst affected by the wave disrupting even the MENA region. The crisis as a whole had not just necessitated aid from outside but also caused millions to flee the Country subsequently causing major impacts in socio demographic factors in the neighboring and western host Countries. 3 In the end of 2019, the world faced a new kind of a threat; the Covid19 pandemic. The deadly virus has killed approximately 6.26 million and infected at least 521 million people around the world in two years and continues to thrive to this moment.4 All these disasters have intensified the need for humanitarian assistance thus making it unto utmost prominence as a separate study in the present world. With this derives new arguments leading through various aspects and branches of humanitarianism and how they are handled in different contexts around the world. We shall however try to cover and focus more on Turkiye, as the subject of this thesis addresses the political stance of the Country ultimately. 2 Carla Kweifio Okai, “Where Did the Indian Ocean Tsunami Aid Money Go?”, The Guardian. December 25th 2014. https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2014/dec/25/where-did-indian-ocean- tsunami-aid-money-go. 3 Alparslan Özerdem, “İnsaniyetçilik ve Türk Dış Politikası,” Uluslararası İlişkiler. Cilt 13, Sayı 52, 2016, pp.129-149 4 World Health Organization, “WHO Coronavirus (COVID-19) Dashboard,” https://covid19.who.int/ 3 Turkiye is known to be one of the biggest donor Nations with regard to its GDP ratio when compared with other nations around the world including major powers. The popularity increased in the recent past with its amount of humanitarian aid reaching to more than hundred countries under a wide range of aid categories. It gained praise from the global community with the latest Syrian crisis, for hosting most of its refugees fleeing the war. In 2018 Turkiye became the largest donor in the world with an official aid amount of $8,399 billion according to the Global Humanitarian Assistance Report.5 And in 2019 Turkiye accounted for 26% of world humanitarian aid after consecutively spending more than any other nations in the world, according to international groups.6 The concept of Humanitarian diplomacy was initially brought into the context of Turkish Republic during the provision of food aid in the mid-1980s to countries in the African continent. And in the early 1990s, Turkiye played an active role in ensuring and establishing Peace in its neighboring Balkan Countries. It had undertaken the responsibility to provide humanitarian aid during the Bosnian war and contributed to the establishment of a Government in Kosovo within the framework of NATO and UN, carried out mostly with the help of Turkish Armed forces and Turkish Red Crescent. Similarly, Turkiye has also contributed to the international peace-building mission in Afghanistan after the Bonn agreement in 2002.7 The victory of AKP by securing majority votes in the general elections held in 2002 signaled more humanitarian ventures to come with the inception of a new era in Turkiye’s international relations. Under the leadership of then Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Turkiye began to play the role of a trustworthy mediator and respond swiftly to humanitarian disasters around the World. 5 “Turkiye Remains Most Generous Donor of Humanitarian Aid,” Hurriyet Daily News, September 30th 2019, https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/Turkiye-remains-most-generous-donor-of-humanitarian-aid- 146994 6 Gökhan Ergöçün, “Turkiye Accounts for 26% of 2019 World Humanitarian Aid,” Anadolu Agency, Accessed August 16th 2022, https://www.aa.com.tr/en/economy/Turkiye-accounts-for-26-of-2019-world- humanitarian- aid/1919544#:~:text=Turkiye%20accounted%20for%20just%20under,an%20independent%20internationa l%20development%20organization. 7 Alpaslan Özerdem, “İnsaniyetçilik ve Türk Dış Politikası,” pp.129-149 4 This was the period Turkiye was able to and had the political and economic power to negotiate independently with states like Israel and Syria, and also Hizbullah of Lebanon.8 Over the past decade Turkiye has risen to become an important political player and gained easy access to the respective boundaries, which can be treated as one of Turkiye’s diplomatic triumphs in international politics. After years of political instability and military interventions, it was crucial for Turkiye to prove itself stable before the international community. Humanitarianism was one such tool which was embraced by the Turkish (AKP) government to prove themselves stable and strong internally. Turkiye has emphasized Humanitarian diplomacy as one of its main elements of its foreign policy after the 2000s. It uses this tool to acquire a status along with many other players in the new multicentered world order, which occurred after the dissolution of the west, post-Cold War. Professor Meliha Benli Altunışık mentions in one of her briefs, that Turkiye which reflects AKP’s worldview also possesses the responsibility of caring for nations, which were once under Ottoman reign, as a crucial part of its deep-rooted heritage.9 As a result, we could witness number of incidents where humanitarian assistance is being carried out today especially to those countries. It’s also noteworthy that, such efforts are made not solely because of its historical responsibility. Today Humanitarianism is a ‘crucial tool’ mostly handled by ‘huge’ powers and states. Turkiye should be competent enough in handling such a tool in the concurrent world order along with rest of the big powers so that it could attain its global aspirations. This very tool can also be identified as one of the crucial soft powers of the Country, a concept of high prominence in today’s international politics. 8 Alpaslan Özerdem, “İnsaniyetçilik ve Türk Dış Politikası,” pp.129-149 9 Meliha Benli Altunısık, “Turkiye’s Humanitarian Diplomacy: The AKP Model,” Chr. Michelsen Institute (CMI Brief no. 2019:08), January 1st 2019, https://www.cmi.no/publications/6973-Turkiyes-humanitarian- diplomacy-the-akp-model. 5 1.1 Turkish State and Soft power diplomacy Soft power is the ability to shape the preference or perception of others. It also means to arouse interest, capture imagination and cause admiration. It is the capacity to attract and inspire. 10 with reference to the ‘Power’ aspect, it means the ability to impose or get done a desired result by means of the attractive and appealing factors in possession regardless the need to employ the use of force.11 Joseph Nye, who coined the concept puts it precisely as, the ability to get others want the outcomes that you want. ‘How’ can this be achieved is a question with no definite answer. There are numerous soft power tools. Different States use different tools mostly based on what they are best equipped with or possess expertise in. However, thanks to Nye for coining the concept at such a crucial time; following the dispersion of Nations in the post-Cold War era, where all Nation States endeavored to gain prominence in a multipolar atmosphere. One of the most popular soft power tools nowadays is the media, and more specifically the Cinema and TV Series sector. Turkiye is the second largest TV Series exporter today following the United States. The $350 million worth of TV Series exports with over 500 million viewers around the world presently, is expected to reach upto $500 million by 2023. Such TV series when aired abroad, not only change the perception of Turkish Culture and Social conditions in those Countries but also indirectly contribute to the progression of different sectors locally. The tourism sector is one of its major beneficiaries. A minute example to be noted here is about the famous TV Series Diriliş Ertuğrul aka Turkish Game of Thrones which portrays the life and struggle of Ertuğrul Gazi before his Son Osman Gazi succeeds and enthrones to Establish the Ottoman Empire. Before the TV series was aired internationally, the little town of Söğüt in western Anatolia, which has the tomb of Ertuğrul Gazi, was rarely known and less visited even by the Turks 10 Hakan Altınay, “Turkiye’s soft power: An unpolıshed gem or and elusive mirage?”, Insight Turkiye, Volume 10, Issue 2. (2008) 11 Aykut Soylu, Burhan Çınar, Burhan, “Gastronomi ve yumuşak güç: İstanbul Restoranlarının analizi,” Journal of Tourism Intelligence and Smartness. Volume 4, Issue 1, 2021, p.3 6 themselves. However, when the Drama started to invade the houses worldwide especially that of the Muslim World, Tourists began to pour into this little suburb from all over the world so much so, Tourist Operators in Istanbul have a special package to Söğüt called the ‘Ertuğrul Tomb Visit Package’ for the rest. In the first 8 months of year 2018 alone, the little suburb had received more than a million Tourists locally and from abroad.12 Turkish Gastronomy is an important soft power tool as well. Food is not just a matter of basic need and security but also a factor of joy, an element for identity, a way of communication and most importantly an economic value.13 All its potentials should be utilized in order to get its utmost benefit from Gastrodiplomacy. Since 2000 Turkiye has gradually advanced and strived to make its Cuisine a global brand.14 The targets might have been achieved today as we see that Turkish Cuisine has gained high prominence especially in the west and all around the globe. Humanitarianism is another major soft power tool Turkiye possess and has been the inspiration for this thesis. There are around 122,000 active, non-Governmental organizations in Turkiye altogether.15 Some of these NGOs are involved in humanitarian activities abroad with the help of locally collected funds, most of which are third world Countries. Such activities do not only ease the burden of relevant Governments, but also impact directly in the political relationship Turkiye has with them. Especially such aids and activities which are mostly done without any direct material or immaterial expectations are highly valued in African Countries which were previously under colonial rule and still experience the rippling effects. One of the best examples of a positive diplomatic gesture was when 51 out of 53 African Countries voted in favor of Turkiye 12 Oktay Emlik, “Ertuğrul Gazi Türbesi’ne gelen ziyaretçi sayısı 1 milyonu aştı,” Tourism Magazine, August 16th 2018, tourmag.com.tr/ertugrul-gazi-turbesine-gelen-ziyaretci-sayisi-1-milyonu-asti/ 13 Fikret Söner, Alan Gülseli Aygün, “The Gastrodiplomacy model defined within the scope of International public relations: The case of Turkiye,” Research and Reviews in Social, Human and Administrative Sciences, (Ankara: Gece Kitaplığı, 2021) pp.43-70 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/352189773_THE_GASTRODIPLOMACY_MODEL_DEFINE D_WITHIN_THE_SCOPE_OF_INTERNATIONAL_PUBLIC_RELATIONS_THE_CASE_OF_TURKE Y 14 Ibrahim Çekiç, Mustafa Aksoy, “Gastronominin yumuşak güç olarak kullanımı üzerine bir inceleme,” Paper presented at 19.Ulusal Turizm Kongresi, Afyonkarahisar, March 2020, p.714 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/339676221_Gastronominin_yumusak_Guc_Olarak_Kullanimi_ Uzerine_Bir_Inceleme 15 T.C İçişleri Bakanlığı Sivil Toplumla İlişkiler Genel Müdürlüğü,“Dernek Sayıları,” https://www.siviltoplum.gov.tr/dernek-sayilari 7 during the votes for membership in the UN Security Council in 2010.16 This shows how much effective a soft power tool could be in determining or shaping international politics. 1.2 The reason behind the selection of IHH for the thesis The thesis discusses about IHH, A Turkish Humanitarian Organization which has been operating in many Countries and has quite contributed in enhancing Turkiye’s foreign relationship in the world arena. At the end of the thesis, we shall be able to understand how much has been achieved by this single Organization and how far it has contributed to Turkiye’s Foreign policy. Istanbul based IHH is a humanitarian organization, which has been providing humanitarian assistance around the world since 1992. Currently it has reached to at least 135 countries across five continents with a range of aid categories, done and executed spontaneously during unprecedented occurrences or under planned and scheduled basis according to shortages and needs of the respective recipient/country. The Organization has also been impacting international politics occasionally and has drawn criticisms, comments and even praises by the international communities on various occasions. The reason why the Author has chosen IHH for the topic is, firstly because of its operation in at least 135 Countries, which is the most so far as a single non-governmental Turkish Organization having operations abroad. IHH has also obtained the Consultant status of United Nations’ Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). Secondly its functions involve Humanitarian Aid, Humanitarian Diplomacy and Human rights. Usually, NGOs specialize in a single cause and concentrate their whole focus and employ the resources in accomplishing the desired outcomes with regard to them. IHH goes a few steps ahead and almost specializes in other additional areas such as humanitarian diplomacy and humanitarian advocacy, which makes it one of the rare examples internationally and the only example in Turkiye. The significance of the presence and activities of IHH was highlighted with an important example by Abdülkadir Özyiğit, Humanitarian Diplomacy Coordinator at IHH 16 Hüsamettin İnaç, “The Prospect for Turkish Foreign Policy in Africa under AK Party Governments,” Afro Eurasian Studies, Volume 9, Issue 3 (Istanbul: MUSIAD, 2022) pp.148-164 8 during an interview with him in the head Office. “Family reunification was a concept introduced by IHH and later adopted by governments given its importance. IHH has unified childred and women with their families in their countries of origin, rescuing from war-torn and disastrous regions etc. IHH reunited 2 misplaced kids with their grandparents in the ingushetian republic of Russia. This act was later applauded by the Russian ambassador to Turkiye, appreciating IHH for such a great effort.” He also cited an example pertaining to a desperate Sri Lankan family in Syria; once the father had died, the mother and child were almost displaced amidst the ongoing war. IHH had come forward to find and relocate them back with their family in Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan diplomats in Turkiye had duly expressed their appreciation for this remarkable gesture in the aftermath. 17 It’s evident how such acts do not merely remain as one of the many humanitarian services but get noticed even among official-diplomatic levels. And most importantly, how could governments themselves be inspired by certain humanitarian acts of such organizations to the extent they themselves adopt them. In the case of IHH, such acts which they categorize under humanitarian diplomacy, are the ones which elevate the status and significance of the organization and differentiate from other random humanitarian organizations in the country. During an interview with Reşad Başer, the Executive Vice President of IHH and head of the Orphans Unit, he mentioned “even though IHH has been carrying out some remarkable humanitarian diplomacy efforts, they are mostly unknown or do not come to light. One main reason for this is, IHH does not advertise what it does as it carries out everything without any expectations, whereas when governments are involved in such efforts, there’s always expedience or other expectations. The next reason why the efforts of IHH are not known widely is because they’re deliberately kept discreetly due to the sensitivity of the given case. IHH needs to communicate with all the relevant parties and prolong the diplomacy between them during a specific circumstance, so that the matter is handled in a balanced manner and does not fail by any means.”18 Again we witness how much sensitively and seriously each case is handled, and how far they are prioritized instead of everything else. Hence the author finds 17 Abdülkadir Özyiğit, interview by author, IHH Head Office Istanbul, August 5th 2023. 18 Reşad Başer, interview by author, IHH Head Office Istanbul, August 5th 2023. 9 it quintessential to bring the exceptional efforts of an organization like IHH to light, especially to add value to the humanitarian studies in academia. The south and southeast Asia, the regions which would be covered by the thesis has been under the IHH’s concern for a long time and it has been carrying out series of humanitarian aid programmes and projects over the past decade. Through this research the Author aims to find out whether the Humanitarian activities carried out by the IHH in south and southeast Asia has been contributing to the foreign policy of Turkiye. Additionally, the research aims to answer questions such as, ‘have the humanitarian efforts been effective enough’ ‘are the shortages addressed appropriately in those relevant countries and eliminated duly’ ‘have there been any positive changes in perception and policies of the recipient country towards Turkiye’ and some other relevant sub questions etc. 1.3 Literature Review NGOs play a pivotal part today both in the social context and in political space. This is because of the scope of NGOs and their nature of inclusivity. The availability of numerous academic work under this topic with a range of disciplines reaffirms this to be true and hence occupies an important place in Academia at least as much as it is in day- to-day life. The thesis focuses on the impact of NGOs in International politics. Hence this review would analyze arguments on this subject matter. In her work titled ‘Non-Governmental Organizations and their influence on International Society’ Ann Marie Clark displays an interesting approach through two cases respectively ‘the international role of NGOs concerned with upholding states’ obligations to protect the human rights of their citizens and the work and task of International environmental NGOs.19 Firstly, she enters the subject by claiming that both Human rights and Environment related NGOs have the ability to challenge the State sovereignty through the very characteristics like focusing on narrow issues, amount of 19Ann Marie Clarke, “Non-Governmental Organizations and their Influence on International Society,” Journal of International Affairs, Vol.48, No.2 (New York: School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University, 1995) pp.507-525 10 information, know-how and commitment etc. all which differentiate them from the State. She argues that through the appealing set of ideas and information they possess they impact States. NGOs are able to mobilize the public internationally with the principles they hold on to like human rights and environmental consciousness. This is how human and material support is amassed. Ultimately, they are able to gain leverage over States by focusing and committing to a limited set of concerns unlike the latter which naturally has to respond to a wide range of demands. Throughout her work she emphasizes that NGOs' greatest power is their focus on a specific issue and the capacity to allot human and material resources to influence the particular cause. She also states that neutrality of NGOs is another natural advantage which is a fact, but only as long as they remain so. She concludes, Environmental NGOs are less threatened and challenged when compared with human rights NGOs precisely because of their scope, hence they can influence States only on what they’re concerned with. Nevertheless, her work on the whole does not discuss the gain of the State of inception through the respective NGO’s activities abroad, be it human rights related or environmental. It rather confines to the general influence they can make towards States directly through their activism.20 Gerald M.Steinberg touches on the soft power aspect as in related with our topic, in his Article named The Politics of NGOs, Human Rights and the Arab-Israel Conflict. He has not omitted to quote Nye’s finding on NGOs indicating that they possess soft power resources, and they will never hesitate to use them whenever required. We need to understand that politics and State actions are the objects that would be ‘influenced’ or impacted by this. Steinberg also denotes how Europe invests in millions on soft power especially on NGOs to promote specific goals and policies. The piece of Article tries to portray an unbiased stance in relation to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. At a point it discusses how the continuous exercise of soft power tools by the NGOs had also made major impacts in hard power dynamics of Israeli politics. He has not failed to support his 20 Ibid. 11 argument by quoting a few concrete examples from the recent history like how the sales of weapon to the Country was hindered as a result of campaigns made against it.21 In the Article published by Muhittin Ataman in a Journal called Alternatives, under the subject ‘The Impact of Non-State Actors on World Politics: A Challenge to Nation- States’ he classifies NGOs under five different Organizational Structures namely Multinational Corporations, National Liberation Movements, Epistemic Communities, Religious and Humanitarian Organizations, Terrorist Groups and Drug Traffickers. He connotes from sound examples such as the European Court of Human rights having significant impact over the decision making of members states and how the States have turned over their sovereignty to the ECHR when it comes to the subject of Human rights. In his piece of work where he stresses more on the Human rights aspect of NGO, he points out an example of apartheid South Africa, where there were significant cases of human rights abuses for decades and how the international struggles of UN Organs succeeded to bring down most of them. Ataman shapes up his arguments by citing the theories of International Relations with respective examples and he has carefully concluded the topic delivering more power to Non state actors, that they should be taken into consideration even if it was by Superpowers like the United States so that their (NGOs) interests are maintained and guaranteed. Although the Author implies all the categories here when it comes to NGOs, we can acknowledge the same conditions for the type of organizations the Thesis discusses about.22 Similarly, in the Masters Thesis titled ‘Türkiye-Afrika ilişkilerinde sivil toplum kuruluşlarının Rölü: İnsan Hak ve Hürriyetleri insani yardım vakfı örneği,’ Mustafa Samancı has pointed out the ways in which NGOs participate in foreign policy. First, he states that NGOs try to complement the determining process of the State’s foreign policy. The reason he points out for this is because of the unsatisfaction of certain groups within the country towards the government’s foreign policies and that they tend to influence the 21 Gerald M. Steinberg, “The Politics of NGOs, Human Rights and the Arab-Israel Conflict.” Israel Studies 16, no. 2 (2011) pp. 24–54. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/israelstudies.16.2.24 22 Muhittin Ataman, "The Impact of Non-State Actors on World Politics: A Challenge to Nation-States". Alternatives: Turkish Journal of International Relations 2 (2003), https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article- file/19401#:~:text=Non%2Dstate%20actors%20play%20a,national%20and%20global%20public%20opini on. 12 decision makers. Secondly, he argues that NGOs try to fill up the gaps in foreign policy related areas neglected by the government because it finds it insignificant. Hence the NGOs try to fill these openings and attract the attention of the public towards them. Samancı also states that NGOs can continuously support decision makers and after a point, this would put them in the position of advisor to those decision makers.23 Although the thesis discusses about indirect impact and contribution of NGOs in Turkish foreign policy the most, the above methods could also be taken into consideration since the core subject is about ‘contribution to Turkish foreign policy.’ There are limited Turkish Literatures which addresses the subject directly or indirectly. One fine piece of work is Muhammet Cemal Şahinoğlu’s doctorate thesis titled ‘The effect of Non-Governmental Organizations on Foreign Policy: The case of the foundation of Human Rights, Freedom and Humanitarian Relief (IHH) in the specific of Humanitarian Organizations,’ a subject which goes aligned with the Author’s work. He basically analyzes the dilemma between theory and practice through his thesis with the help of various events. He speaks on the dynamic and flexible nature of the NGOs and cites them as the factors behind being able to act quicker than States, and how they can confront States and International Organizations when required. In the second part of his work, Şahinoğlu emphasizes on the capacity of these Organizations to create headline both locally and internationally, which I believe is crucial for a body which thrives as a medium between the State and public. When it comes to international dynamics, Şahinoğlu asserts that NGOs do play a proactive role but not all NGOs can do that. According to his narrative, only those which involve in advocacy have the capacity and power to influence in international relations or the foreign policies of States.24 In an article published by Hakan Mehmetcik for a humanitarian NGO based project with the title ‘Humanitarian NGOs: Motivations, Challenges and Contributions to Turkish Foreign Policy,’ he examines the subject by interviewing at least 25 NGO workers and using their opinions. He starts his writing by stressing on the soft power aspect of 23Mustafa Samancı,“Türkiye-Afrika ilişkilerinde sivil toplum kuruluşlarının Rölü: İnsan Hak ve Hürriyetleri insani yardım vakfı örneği,” Masters Thesis (Yalova University, 2017) 24 Muhammet Cemal Şahinoğlu, “Sivil Toplum Kuruluşları(STK)’nın Dış Politikaya Etkisi: İnsani Hak ve Hürriyetleri İnsani Yardım Vakfı (İHH) özelinde İnsani yardım kuruluşları örneği,” Doctorate diss., (Selçuk University, 2020) 13 foreign aid and how they have always become an important tool for the governments. In contrary to what the Author suggests in this thesis, Mehmetcik derives the motive behind the humanitarian aids carried out by NGOs in Turkiye to be ‘altruism.’ Even though he had assumed it to be religiously motivated, opinions from his interview suggested otherwise. While discussing the ‘contributing’ aspect of the NGOs in the last phase of his work, he points out that ‘all of the activities of Turkish NGOs are perceived as Turkiye’s helping hand even though they do not represent the country officially.’ He supports this argument with the aid workers’ statement about themselves wearing the badges with Turkish flag with the respective NGO’s logo, and how the recipients do not ‘thank’ the organizations but the ‘country’ while receiving the aids. This very gesture can be regarded as a sound example for the ‘contribution’ aspect of NGOs that emphasizes the concept so precisely.25 This thesis has also stressed on the similar subject; how such aids are remembered and perceived as Turkish and not by the provider of them. Overall, there are number of literatures and writings on the subject which directly or indirectly address the core topic. Most of them suggest that NGOs can certainly make an impact or influence on State policies and in international relations. A very few of them although do not accept that notion entirely but acknowledge it by categorically limiting them to a specific kind/s of organizations or by their scope of operations. Turkish literatures on this subject are very few surprisingly. Being a Nation with several Government and Non-governmental humanitarian organizations having missions inland and abroad one could simply expect to come across with a considerable number of contributions to academia. But on the contrary, there’s only a limited amount of literatures or to put it more correctly, the available few literatures are mostly monotonous and do not address the different disciplines of NGOs. 25 Hakan Mehmetcik, "Humanitarian NGOs: Motivations, Challenges and Contributions to Turkish Foreign Policy,” PERCEPTIONS: Journal of International Affairs 24 (2019) pp. 249-278 14 1.4 Methodology The Thesis begins with an introduction of the Subject and its background with related references and examples. In the first half of the thesis, the history of Humanitarianism and how it evolved in the world and history of humanitarianism in Turkiye, and the reason behind the significance of humanitarian actions in the contemporary world and the position of Turkiye have been discussed. The latter part analyses IHH, who’s the core subject of the thesis, with details of its inception, aim, progression and worldwide operation, and concludes with analytical data of the improvement of relationship between the home and host countries. Furthermore, the thesis has examined the influence IHH has exerted in those regions through its diplomacy endeavors, confirmed by relevant examples, leading to the conclusion drawn in the thesis. The research is conducted based on IHH’s activities in four sample picked countries from South and Southeast Asia respectively Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Thailand (Pattani). Both local and foreign resources have been utilized to work out this thesis. Numerous academic materials and articles have been analyzed to comprehend and assess the contributions of NGOs and their activities over host and home Countries. Most of these materials were employed in enriching the first half of the thesis. The last parts were drafted mostly based on print materials and facts obtained from IHH directly by visiting and interviewing certain important figures within the organization. All the data gathered underwent processing to yield the ultimate outcomes of the thesis, accompanied by requisite narratives and comments throughout the document. 15 2.TURKISH FOREIGN POLICY & HUMANITARIANISM 2.1 A brief look of Humanitarianism in the Ottoman Era The present-day Turkiye is not totally independent from its Ottoman past and socio-cultural heritage. In other words, having a reasonable amount of knowledge of its past- Ottoman era history would help a lot in analyzing any of its modern day social and state structural development. In this regard, humanitarianism or humanitarian diplomacy should not be read as a brand-new notion introduced into the political order of the modern Turkish State. The tradition traces back at least to the early Ottoman times and has been innate within the social custom throughout the history. One significant example is the aid extended during the great famine that hit Ireland in the 1840s. Sultan Abdul Majid, then ruler of the Ottoman state had first planned to donate an amount of ￡10,000 but later reduced to ￡2000 when the British agents in Istanbul consulate had pleaded so, since the Queen herself had donated only ￡2000. It is also claimed that a vessel full of food supposed to be sent to the Irish people by the Sultan was also later intervened by the Queen.26 The generous gesture of Sultan had been given a huge coverage in the printed journals of both Ottoman and British Empire and was applauded highly by the subjects. Apart from humanitarianism, this act had also contributed significantly towards the diplomacy between the powers, a bond which eventually exceeded the prevailing political relationship, a bond which was crucial at such a time of crisis around. Another notable event which took place during the reign of Sultan Abdul Hamid the second was the Johnstown flood disaster in USA, which was later termed as the century’s disaster. The Sultan was the first to respond with food aid and an amount of 1,000$ through Oscar Strauss, then emissary of USA to Istanbul.27 History records, that this 26 Semih Çelik, “Between History of Humanitarianism and Humanitarianization of History. A Discussion on Ottoman Help for the Victims of the Great Irish Famine, 1845–1852.” WERKSTATTGESCHICHTE, Issue 68 (2015), p.17 27 Fatma Ürekli, 1889/1894 Afetlerinde Osmanlı-Amerikan Yardımlaşmaları (Istanbul: Doğu Kütüphanesi, 2007) p.2 16 gesture of Sultan was in the memory of American people for years, so much so, they would return the favor later when the Ottoman state was once hit by an earthquake. This mutual exchange of aids comes at a time when relationship between both the States was at an adverse condition stemming from America’s missionary activities, endeavors to open US Consulates in the Eastern Anatolia and problems arising from American schools in Ottoman soil etc. The reciprocal gestures helped in easing out tension between both the States and helped them bring their relationship back to normal; enabling Turkish- American relationship to continue in a friendly manner even under the most severe condition. One significant impact of these humanitarian gestures on politics was the elevation of representatives in both the States, from Consular to Embassy.28 These incidents well depict how humanitarian aids have acted as strategic tools in the Ottoman period in shaping up international relationship. 2.2 Ataturk’s Foreign Policy & Humanitarianism outlooks Mustafa Kemal Atatürk founded the Modern Turkish Republic with pro-western ideologies in 1923, abolishing the centuries old Ottoman Reign along with its core principles. Imperial aspirations were given up for good and modernizing the country while embracing European values was seen imminent since the goal was to uplift Turkiye to sail along with the advancing western powers. These followed with the cost of abandoning the long kept Islamic identity of the state and cutting off all sentimental ties, most importantly with Arab Nations, that were once under the great Ottoman empire. On one hand foreign policies were redesigned according to the new aspirations in the path of integration. And on the other, Atatürk’s focus solely was on Turkiye and exclusive benefit of its people. Hence, he wanted the state to rely on its own strength and decrease dependency outside on any aspect. Furthermore, he went on to introduce the notion, ‘Peace at home, peace in the world’ which did not only emphasize the importance he had given to the rise and revival of the new state but also defined the foreign policy he desired to adapt. Although he did not endorse the colonial ventures of the West, he approached them based on logical grounds rather with sentimental approach. As Ömer Kürkçüoğlu points 28 Ibid, 4 17 out in his article, Atatürk softened his attitude towards the British in parallel with the military and diplomatic success of Anatolian movement.29 This can be commented as an extreme tactical move that a state leader could have resorted to, not long after coming across each other in battle. Europe was the only advanced region then, which also convinced Atatürk not to neglect them nor cultivate enmity with. On contrary to the Ottoman Empire in its late century, Atatürk did not also want to depend on one single world power. He rather wanted to maintain balance between the powers so that the Country would not fall in case a power with allegiance falls.30 This shows his remarkable power of reading the incidents and taking heed from them to shape up the Country’s future. Probably this very principle would have contributed in guiding Turkiye not to take part in the World War which took place a decade and a half later. Atatürk’s rejection of Pan-Islamic and Pan-Turkish policies are also worthy of mentioning under his foreign policy. He was against the idea of reigning over a huge territory that encompasses so many nations and communities, which he also sees as one of the main causes of the downfall of the Ottoman empire. As Kürkçüoğlu connotes Atatürk’s words “...one cannot come across any success and practicability in the History of…policies of Pan-Islamism and Pan-Turkism…Our political direction which we think is practicable is the national policy.” Here he explicitly says that his ideology of a successful Nation should be built with a Nationalistic identity and not religious nor any other.31 However, Atatürk’s Nationalism has not hindered his Internationalism (humanism). His care for the world derives based on a responsibility to the whole world community and more political. As Kürkçüoğlu describes, Atatürk deemed it his duty to be well informed about the activities and problems of other nations in all corners of the world. This was not just because an important prerequisite of international responsibility but also as a mean to pursue the best foreign policy with those respective Nations.32 Kürkçüoğlu supports this trait of Atatürk with his words to Romanian foreign minister 29 Ömer Kürkçüoğlu, “An Analysis of Atatürk’s foreign policy 1919-1938,” The Turkish Yearbook of International Relations, (Ankara: Ankara University, 1980) p.4 30 Ibid, 13 31 Ibid, 19 32 Ibid, 23 18 Antonescu during his visit to Ankara on the 17th of March 1937, “ one must think about the welfare and happiness of not only one's own nation but of all the nations of the world ...and must do one's best to serve for the happiness of the whole world ... Because, to work for the happiness of the nations of the world, is another way of trying to secure one's own comfort and happiness. Unless there is no peace, openness, and not getting on with each other among nations in the world, no nation will be in comfort, no matter how much it strives for itself. ...Even an event in the what we think the remotest part of the world can -who knows- one day reach us. That is why, we have to consider humanity a single body and each nation an organ of it. A pain on the fingertip will affect the whole organs of the body." 33 2.3 Post World War 2 and Turkiye This phase denotes Turkiye’s choice of side during and after the Cold War, which were the most significant happenings of late 20th century. As many States had two choices to make; either to take place with US or USSR in the bipolar system, Turkiye too had chosen to shape its foreign policy to go in harmony with western expectations. Turkiye’s utmost priority was its security given its geo-political position.34 Turkiye’s membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO),35 application for membership in the European Economic Community (EEC) in the 1950,36 and the continuous efforts to gain membership in various Organizations in the Europe well depict, how Turkiye has been enthusiastic in fitting itself in the western block. Nevertheless, instability in internal politics and economic constraints had hindered Turkiye in playing a proactive role internationally and confined its focus mostly towards the west. The struggle was to ensure its survival in the first place.37 The collapse of the Soviet Union had three impacts on Turkiye. Firstly, it had removed 33 Ibid, 23 34 Gülbahar Y. Aktaş, "TurkishForeign Policy: New concepts and reflections.” Masters Thesis (Middle East Technical University, 2010) p.9 35Republic of Turkiye Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “Turkiye- NATO Together for Peace and Security Since 60 Years,” www.mfa.gov.tr/Turkiye-nato-together-for-peace-and-security-since60-years.en.mfa. 36Delegation of the European Union to Turkiye, “EU and Turkiye’s History,” https://www.avrupa.info.tr/en/eu-and-Turkiyes-history-711. 37 Gülbahar Y. Aktaş, "TurkishForeign Policy: New concepts and reflections,” p.58 19 the Russian threat and enabled Turkiye to implement a multilateral foreign policy. Turkiye lost its strategic importance in the eyes of the west. As a result, Turkiye was denied entry into the European Economic Community (now European Union) which also lead Turkiye towards further isolation. Thirdly the elimination of a powerful neighbor prompting Turkiye to establish multilateral relationship and follow various foreign policy tools with other Countries in the region who had unleashed enormous opportunities, thus boosting the geopolitical importance of Turkiye’s role in the region.38 Hence, it’s understandable that the collapse of the Soviet Union did also present Turkiye with opportunities to expand its connectivity with other States and become more active internationally, which was also a necessity for Turkiye to be liberated from its isolation. Turkiye along with many other Nations were stepping into a multipolar international system which would command no biasedness, and relationships would be based more on cooperation and focus on the benefit of relevant States concerned. Turkiye too advanced in this new world order to secure a place for itself. 2.4 AKP’s foreign Policy With AKP coming to power in 2002, a whole new political climate began to take over Turkiye. A Government whose policies are both pro-Islamic and respecting secular values must be a totally new notion that the Turkish public would be exposed to. Internationally, an attempt to balance between the east and west, having more allies than before and having as less as much enemy nations. This modus operandi was highly influenced by Ahmet Davutoğlu’s book, ‘The Strategic Depth’. The book basically argues that the importance of a Nation in terms of international relations is determined by its strategic geographical location.39 According to the book, Turkiye is situated in a strategically important location, along with the possession of the Straits and has high 38 Sertif Demir, Ayça Eminoğlu , Arzu Y. Aslantürk "The Evolution of Turkiye's Foreign Policy toward Turkish Republics post-1990s," Trakya Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, Cilt 20, Sayı 2, (Edirne: Trakya University, 2018) p.393 39 Angel Rabasa, and F. Stephen Larrabee. “The Rise of Political Islam in Turkey.” In The Rise of Political Islam in Turkey, 1st ed., 31–50. RAND Corporation, 2008. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7249/mg726osd.10. 20 chances of using its position to play an important role in international politics. Additionally, the importance of establishing bonds with the previous Ottoman controlled regions like the Middle East, Central Asia and the Balkans is highlighted through the book; suggesting that it could be a major strength in the road to become a regional power.40 In the meantime He also stresses the importance of balancing ties with the western powers, so that its say and freedom of movement could be ensured both in the region and worldwide. These ideas had a major influence in the foreign policy of AKP and Turkiye after Davutoğlu was appointed as the chief foreign policy advisor of Erdoğan. Today, after two decades of AKP in power, it’s quite obvious that it has neither followed the footsteps of its Ottoman past nor abandoned its post Republican aspirations completely. Rather it has introduced, followed and quite succeeded in its brand-new foreign policy; a strategy which promotes Turkiye as a spokesman in the region, in fact the world. For instance, we observe how it had ventured to mediate peace talks between Russia and Ukraine in the recent times.41 A courageous act to portray while the west itself had not succeeded. This is also evident for Turkiye’s non exclusiveness and unbiasedness, a role it had strived in embracing within the past couple of decades. AKP, like the previous Governments of Turkiye, has been struggling to enter the EU block since the first day of its instating, and has been one of its prime concerns with regard to its relationship with the EU. It has also shown ardent interest in complying with the criteria that necessitates itself to get into the block one by one. One such change was to gradually reduce the military influence from the political atmosphere, thus ensuring more democracy in the country. However, the Cyprus issue has been continuously barricading Turkiye from its entrance even though it has not been one of the Copenhagen criteria. Many of the countries in the European Union have been hesitant in admitting Turkiye unless the problem is solved.42 USA has been Turkiye’s ally for a while especially because of its membership in the NATO. However, confrontations intensified between both the countries post 1990’s after the Gulf war. 40 Ibid, p77 41Fatma Tanis, “Turkey is friendly with both Russia and Ukraine. Now it wants them to talk peace,” November 16th 2022. https://www.npr.org/2022/11/16/1136473400/turkey-russia-ukraine-peace 42 Angel Rabasa, F. Stephen Larrabee, “The Rise of Political Islam in Turkey.” 21 The US’s invasion of Iraq indicated a possibility of potential establishment of a Kurdish state between Turkiye, Iraq and Syria which could cause high level of threat to the Turkish State. Turkiye’s endeavor to take military actions against the PKK Terrorists in its south was vetoed by the USA, eventually earning the displeasure of the Turkish public towards them.43 The Armenian issue has also been under US’s concerns influenced by the Armenian lobby in the USA. However, actions have not been taken productively so far in order to prevent further rupture in US Turkiye relationship.44 Since the Cold War, both the nations have disagreed on range of issues such as, Russia’s military campaign in Chechnya and the Kurdish issue in Turkiye, Russia’s partnership with Armenia and Turkiye’s propensity to support the territorial integrity of Georgia and resolution of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in favor of Azerbaijan, Ankara’s concerns over Russian arms export policies to Cyprus etc.45 The relationship began to enhance after the end of Cold War and expanded to reach new milestones in AKP’s period. The arrival of President Putin in Ankara in the year of 2004 was an important development making him the first state leader of Russia to visit Turkiye in 32 years. With the signing of new deals, both the countries have had an advancing relationship in many areas especially politics, economy, and defense since then. Russia is one of Turkiye’s biggest suppliers of natural Gas. There are also diverse investments by Russian companies in Turkiye namely in the energy, tourism, and telecommunication sectors. Turkiye also has been benefitting a lot through its suitcase trade to Russia. Even though both the countries have a strong tie in between presently, there is high potentials of confrontation since they are rivals when it comes to having an influence in central Asia and the caucuses. Apart from these, it is a matter of choice for Turkiye between the USA, Europe block on a side and Russia on the other.46 Turkiye’s relationship with middle east has been proactive since Turgut Özal’s Government and intensified under AKP. The AKP 43 Ibid, 83 44 Ibid, 83 45 Sergey Markedonov, Natalya Ulchenko, “Turkey and Russia: An Evolving Relationship,” Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, August 19, 2011. https://carnegieendowment.org/2011/08/19/Turkiye-and-russia-evolving-relationship-pub-45383 46 Angel Rabasa, F. Stephen Larrabee, “The Rise of Political Islam in Turkey,” pp.85-86 22 government considers itself a diplomatic actor in the region who could ensure stability by negotiation and active participation in the affairs rather to be a bystander.47 Ankara’s dispatchment of 1000 troops as a part of the UN Peace keeping mission following the crisis in Lebanon in 2006 stands a good example for this. With a significant amount of Kurdish population living in Syria, Iran and Irak, Ankara finds it quintessential to be vigilant enough not to allow the formation of an independent Kurdish state in the region. Hence it has been focusing on intensifying corporation mainly between Iran and Syria since the latter phase of the first decade of this millennium.48 The active participation in the Syrian war also depicts its concerns of stability in the region. With regard to the Palestinian issue, Ankara has been more vocal under Erdoğan’s AKP than the previous regimes. Though it maintains a strong economic and military relationship with the state of Israel, it has also overtly criticized Israel’s actions in the region be it against Palestine or Lebanon, accusing it of exercising ‘state terrorism’ and crime.49 On the other hand, it has also established strong ties with Hamas and went on to the extent of inviting its leaders to Ankara on certain occasions. 2.5 Turkiye’s Asian Policy: Asia Anew Turkiye’s connection with Asia has been comparatively passive unlike that of Europe and USA. It was in the recent couple of decades the need to reach Asia had been highly felt especially motivated by economic aspirations. Asia as a continent can be divided into sub regions such as Central Asia, East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia and Western Asia. Turkiye’s connection with central Asia is traditional and historical. Among the East Asian Countries, Turkiye has a high level of dependance to China when it comes to trade. The Asia pacific region with varieties of resources to offer, has been on Ankara’s list of concern for a while. Particularly it has been showing high interest in the ASEAN organization and signing up potential agreements with the bloc. As an initiative, it has also signed free trade agreements with countries like Malaysia and Singapore who are already 47 Ibid, 86 48 Ibid, 88 49 Ibid, 89 23 in the block. Turkiye’s motive to enhance relationship in the region goes beyond economic aspirations. This topic is to be discussed in the light of Turkiye’s ‘Asia Anew’ initiative which was unveiled by foreign minister Mevlut Çavuşoğlu in August 2019.50 The Asia Anew aims to exploit the potentials from Asian countries51 in an attempt to diversify its cooperation worldwide, an effort in contrary from its initial period of establishment almost a century back. The Republic of Turkiye was formed with western aspirations by the leadership who attributed modernization to the west. The east and even the neighboring Arab nations were the least of its concerns. However though, the West has been disappointing Turkiye frequently until the recent times. At such a juncture, Turkiye felt the need to diversify its focus and partnerships, hence it transformed its foreign policy into a multidimensional approach. This is how it crossed routes with Asia. This does not mean to cut off its ties completely with the west, but to balance between the burgeoning east and the already dominant west in terms of its foreign policy and ensure its survival in the long run. This move of Turkiye can be termed as one of the wisest it has made in its modern history; a step which helps itself to be a part of the multipolar world while ridding itself from being isolated. By doing so, Turkiye also asserts itself to be an active player in the modern world unlike as it was in the past, belonging to a particular block. Today, Turkiye’s largest trade deficit arises from the Asian region; out of 50 billion USD total trade, 40 billion USD is for imports.52 It has already signed in two free trade agreements (FTA) with 3 countries in the region; Singapore, Malaysia, and South Korea. From 2015 to 2019, Turkiye’s export to Singapore arose from $432 million to 750 million USD and imports declined from 464 million USD to 365 million USD.53 This could be majorly due to the free trade agreement. Similarly talks are in progress to sign FTAs with two more countries in the region, Indonesia and Thailand. 50 Temmuz Yiğit Bezmez, Selma Bardakçı, “Turkey’s Turn to the Asia-Pacific,” The Diplomat, September 23rd 2020. https://thediplomat.com/2020/09/Turkeys-turn-to-the-asia-pacific/ 51 Republic of Turkiye Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “Asia Anew Initiative,” Accessed August 18th 2022. https://www.mfa.gov.tr/asia-anew-initiative.en.mfa. 52 Temmuz Yiğit Bezmez, Selma Bardakçı, “Turkey’s Turn to the Asia-Pacific.” 53 Zhengizkhan Zhanaltay, “Turkey’s Asia A New initiative,” Weekly E-Bulletin, No.293 (Turkistan: Eurasian Research Institute, Akhmat Yassawi University, 2021) 24 Asia Anew does not focus solely on economy but parallelly prioritizes many other areas like defense, construction, logistics, green energy, digital technologies, finance, and cultural exchanges etc.54 In fact, the success of a diplomacy maintained with a country could majorly be determined by the areas worked up together, exceeding economic and trade ties alone. Turkiye therefore attempts its best to employ all its available resources and wealth in order to parallelly sustain relationship with the countries in Asia. Apart from its own resources such as the TIKA and Yunus Emre Institute etc. All the NGOs hailing from the country could be considered as a valuable Asset in this regard. We can now have a brief look on how close and friendly are the countries chosen for this thesis with Turkiye. Pakistan is one of the significant countries that Turkiye shares a strong relationship with, in South Asia. The bond which had initiated during Turkiye’s republic struggle (as Indian Muslims), supported materially, has developed into a special relationship by both the Nations today that also covers both political and economic interests of both sides. In 2017 both the countries celebrated the 70th year of establishment of their diplomatic relations in a grand scale. Both Nations have shown unconditional solidarity during hard times faced by either of them and portrayed a strong alliance that would go beyond diplomatic ties, a rare scenario in terms of international relations. 73 Documents and agreements were signed by both Nations in the High-level Strategic Cooperation Council held in Islamabad in 2020 and currently there are around 17 Turkish companies operating in Pakistan, Construction being the biggest category of investment.55 A proposed Free Trade agreement is on the way and it would boost the current amount of $900 Million to $10 Billion by 2022 should it come into effect.56 Although geographically way apart, yet another bond established soundly based on shared beliefs and values in South Asia is Bangladesh. Turkiye was one of the first countries to recognize its establishment in 1974, three years after its liberation from Pakistan. Embassies were opened in both the countries within the following 5-6 years of 54 Republic of Turkiye Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “Asia Anew Initiative,” Accessed August 18th 2022. https://www.mfa.gov.tr/asia-anew-initiative.en.mfa. 55 Republic of Turkiye Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “Turkiye-Pakistan Relations,”Accessed August 23rd 2022 https://www.mfa.gov.tr/turkiye-pakistan-relations.en.mfa 56 Philip Kowalski, “Turkish-Pakistani Relations: A Burgeoning Alliance?” Middle East Institute, Accessed May 8th 2023. https://www.mei.edu/publications/turkish-pakistani-relations-burgeoning- alliance 25 time, paving way for fresh diplomatic relationship. However due to Turkiye’s less focus on Asia, the existing cultural relationship had not been transferred into deeper commercial and political relations until 1998 where they co-founded the D8 (Developing 8). Series of commercial and political agreements were signed by both the countries only after the AKP came into power with a special focus on Asia under its foreign policy. As a result, import and export value between both the countries hiked up to 1 Billion USD by 2016.57 While a joint protocol was signed on trade and investment in 2012, TIKA, Turkish Cooperation and Coordination agency had been increasing its activities in Bangladesh focusing education, health, agriculture and in support of administrative infrastructure.58 In terms of defense, assistance has been made by Turkiye to Bangladesh by providing light armored vehicle to Bangladesh Army in 2013 and Turkiye has been supplying one military equipment to each military unit every year according to the military corporation agreement signed by both in 2008. 59 It’s also notable that the relationship between Turkiye and Bangladesh strengthened further during the Rohingya crisis when Bangladesh had lost support from its allies, China and India. Both Bangladesh and Rohingya were able to present their side of the argument to the world through Turkiye’s multilateral diplomatic struggle via UN, MIKTA, G-20etc.60 Sri Lanka and Turkiye shares relatively a long diplomatic history compared to many of the Nations in the region. Although Sri Lanka has been predominantly a Buddhist country, having Muslims as minority, Turkiye or then Ottoman Empire had established diplomatic relations with Sri Lanka (previously Ceylon) by appointing its first honorary Consul in 1864 which depicts how much significant the Island has been for the Empire since earlier times. Turkiye was one of the first countries to recognize Sri Lanka soon after its independence in 1948. 57 Gürol Baba, “The Waves of Turkiye’s Proactive Foreign Policy Hitting South-Asian Coasts: Turkiye- Bangladesh Relations,” Journal of Administrative Sciences, (Ankara: Ankara Sosyal Bilimler University. 2017) p. 579 58 Ibid, 580 59 Ibid, 580 60 Nazmul Islam, “Bangladesh: Turkiye’s Key Partner in Asia Anew Initiative | Opinion,” Daily Sabah, December 25th 2020. https://www.dailysabah.com/opinion/op-ed/bangladesh-Turkiyes-key-partner-in- asia-anew-initiative 26 Apart from the present $180 million trade volume with Sri Lanka, Turkiye has been aiding the island during undesirable natural and human made disasters then and there. The Turkish Government had built 450 houses in the south of Sri Lanka for those who were affected by the Tsunami disaster in 2004. A similar project of 100 houses were constructed for displaced families due to war in Northern Sri Lanka by the TIKA.61 Turkiye and Thailand both share the same characteristic of being independent during the colonial times. Turkiye’s relationship with the old Siam kingdom (which is under the state of Thailand in the present day) leads back deep into history. The interaction of expanding Ottoman empire with southeast Asia happens with trade in the mid-15th century which eventually evolves into a political relationship especially with the Muslim lands in the region. During this period Siam had been exporting significant amount of goods and this was one major reason for Turkiye to establish strong ties with the Siamese kingdom.62 In 2018 both the countries celebrated their 60 years of diplomatic relationship. As it was in the past, both countries have been exploring opportunities to increase their relationship in all possible fields. While Turkiye has been benefitting from Thailand’s export advantage, Turkiye has shared its expertise in the fields of education, tourism, and humanitarian projects etc. Since 1992, Turkiye has provided scholarships for around 400 Thai students to continue their higher education in Turkiye. In 2019, both countries signed an agreement on ‘Cooperation in the field of Tourism’ between. KOSGEB and its Thai counterpart OSMEP. They have also signed a Memorandum of Understanding for cooperation between small and medium sized Enterprises.63 61 Embassy of Sri Lanka Ankara “Turkiye,” Accessed May 8, 2023. https://www.srilanka.org.tr/turkiye_1- 1977 62 Ismail Hakkı Kadı, A.C.S Peacock, “The Ottoman Empire and the Kingdom of Siam through the Ages,” (Bangkok: Chulalongkorn University, 2017) p.3 63 Republic of Turkiye Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “Relations between Turkiye and Thailand,” Accessed May 20th 2023. https://www.mfa.gov.tr/relations-between-turkiye-and-thailand.en.mfa 27 The more the areas included into cooperation, the more the growth of relationship transpires. Despite being a majority Buddhist country, Thailand has an enormous potential to work together with Turkiye while Turkiye has vast chances of benefitting from this bond as well. 28 3: HUMANITARIANISM AND THE TURKISH STATE Charity and philanthropy have existed along with humankind throughout history, be it a religious obligation or a state-imposed order. However, the modern-day charity venture originates in the year 1859, when the international committee of the red cross (ICRC) was established by Henry Dunant initially and later by the broader red cross and red crescent movement during the battle of Solferino.64 In the twentieth century we witness the concept of international humanitarian nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) occupying a broader area in the international political discourse as a result of the consequences brought up by the major and minor battles the century went through. Notably, Save the Children was created in 1919 to lay pressure over the British government to lift its blockade against Germany, and Austria-Hungary. The consequences of the second world war paved way for the creation of organizations like CARE and Oxfam. Also, Cold War conflicts in the 1970s and 80s resulted in the establishment of new generation NGOs like Action Contre la faim (Action against Hunger) in France, Merlin in the UK, and GOAL in Ireland. The biggest and major player of them all is the United Nations and its different agencies; three out of five of whom were established to deliver humanitarian assistance to the oppressed and needy people namely, UNICEF which was established in 1946 originally to help the war affected children of Europe, UNRWA in 1950 being formed originally to assist Palestinian refugees fleeing war and UNHCR in 1951 to aid refugees fleeing conflict and persecution generally.65 In short, we can say that the modern international aid system is the result of largely western organizational and individual involvements which were primarily pooled in to 64 International Committee of the Red Cross , “Solferino and the International Committee of the Red Cross,” January 6th 2010. https://www.icrc.org/en/doc/resources/documents/feature/2010/solferino- feature-240609.htm. 65 Jérémie Labbé, “Defining the Boundaries of the Humanitarian Enterprise,” Rethinking Humanitarianism: Adapting to 21st Century Challenges. International Peace Institute, 2012. http://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep09610.6 29 respond to the conflicts. Natural disaster aid in fact is relatively a new notion that came into scene within the past couple of decades which has also caused the donors and aid organizations to reevaluate and diversify their aid portfolio. The increasing number of natural disasters in the past few decades have prompted global actors to invest in precautionary actions and assistance after incidents. This situation also suggests of a future with more potential threats to inflict the global community thus causing the reevaluation of ‘humanitarianism’ discourse and its diversification to a much broader scope. 3.1 Humanitarianism and its scope/s In simple terms humanitarianism could be described as all the aid efforts made to eliminate the agony or difficulty faced by any individual or community. The OECD has rather a broader definition which goes as “the assistance designed to save lives, alleviate suffering and maintain and protect human dignity during and in the aftermath of emergencies.” Further the definition lays the conditions to be considered humanitarian aid as “to be consistent with the humanitarian principles of humanity, impartiality, neutrality and independence.” 66 Out of these, impartiality and neutrality are termed as the twin principles of humanitarian action and are enshrined in the Geneva conventions of 1949 and in the additional protocols of 1977. Impartiality is defined as the provision of aid solely based on their needs regardless of nationality, race, religion, class or political opinion. While neutrality suggests, ‘in order to gain the confidence of all the related subjects, not to take sides in hostilities or engage in any political, racial, religious or ideological controversy.’ 67 according to Macrae and Leader, any organizations are in the verge of being politicized unless they adhere to these twin principles which eventually make their humanitarian actions to political actions.68 Hence it becomes clear that there cannot be any material or immaterial motives like political, economic, or military motives etc. behind the aid effort carried out other than the above-mentioned conditions. This 66 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, DAC Statistical Reporting Directives, OECD Doc. DCD/DAC (2010)40/REV1, November 12, 2010, para. 184. https://www.oecd.org/dac/38429349.pdf 67 Alparslan Özerdem, Giovanni Rufini, “Humanitarianism and the Principles of Humanitarian Action in Post-Cold War Context.” After the Conflict, (Coventry: I.B.Tauris, 2005) p.9 68 Ibid, 10 30 ensures interests are not breached in both the sides be it by the aid provider nor the recipient. The concept of humanitarianism has nurtured into a much broader sphere today compared to what it was in its initial days as discussed previously. It originated to attend to the needy in the war fields and the victims of war focusing solely based on the worst needy or needed in an order. It was civil wars mostly which necessitated humanitarian assistance during the 19th and 20th centuries. The scope of assistance diversified along with natural and man-made disasters from the latter part of last century. Environmental forces for example have played a central role in transforming humanitarianism causing humanitarian organizations to get away from relief activities alone and work along with the states, an action which also led to the politicization of these organizations.69 Notions like rehabilitation, disaster management, development assistance, humanitarian advocacy etc. came into scene from this phase. 3.2 Soft power aspect of Humanitarian actions While we focus on the relief aspect of humanitarian activities of organizations, it is notable that such efforts also do contribute to the foreign policies of the home states of the particular organizations in an indirect way. This concept in today’s context is termed as ‘the soft power’ advantage of a Country. Such foreign aid has always been a significant soft power tool for states to have influence over other states and communities in a positive manner. Humanitarianism is not the only tool a state can possess. It can rather be a key tool to achieve soft power advantage to a greater extent. The research materials analyzing soft power with respect to humanitarian diplomacy and vice versa are comparatively few. This is probably due to the freshness of the discourse. The necessity itself arose in the past two-three decades with the frequenting natural and man-made crisis around the world, demanding humanitarian aid, with many countries seeking to allocate a place of their own in the multipolar world order post-Cold 69 Michael Barnett. “Humanitarianism Transformed.” Perspectives on Politics 3, no. 4 (2005) pp.723–40 http://www.jstor.org/stable/3688176. 31 War. Hence it would be in the author’s best interest to present arguments based on real time examples. We can discuss over Turkiye’s context in relation to its refugee diplomacy. Turkiye hosts the largest Syrian refugees, with 3 million 762 thousand and 385 people registered under temporary protection so far. While 3 million 711 thousand 683 of this number live in different cities inside Turkiye, around 50,702 registered people are hosted in camps or temporary refugee centers.70 This effort of Turkiye has earned itself a considerable amount of good impression around the world and quite increased its influence in the middle east in a positive manner. Humanitarianism could contribute immensely to the soft power of a Country. Yet it also depends on to what extent and with what motive the particular country uses it for. Turkiye has once again proved its stance with effective health diplomacy missions carried out during Covid19, delivering health accessories and tools to many countries in need. It’s notable how much praise it had received from many parts of the world for undertaking this important humanitarian task at such a dire time when the countries of the world were almost clueless against the unanticipated pandemic. Not many countries could deliver hope to the world while also struggling to care for their own people. To emphasize the concept of Soft power is essential when we talk about international humanitarianism especially since they are transnational and involved with states. International NGOs often represent their source or home country and act as a flag bearer when they carry aid to other countries. Since such acts can contribute to the goodwill of the home country to a great extent, they can be treated as a proactive form of soft power of a nation. However, it’s also notable that any misconduct of an NGO in the respective countries in its sphere, could have as much negative effects, not only potentially harming the reputation of its home country but also bring the relationship of both the countries to a hostile condition. 70 Refugees Association, “Number of Syrians in Turkiye April 2022,” April 21st 2022. https://multeciler.org.tr/eng/number-of-syrians-in-turkey/ 32 3.3 Turkiye’s enterprising and humanitarian foreign policy With a significant amount of resource potentials, a unique and rooted heritage and with its strategic geographic location, Turkiye is one of the rarest of its kind which fits into the frame of a sovereign State. From east to the west, north to the south it has been a point of attraction throughout history, so as in the present day. Especially due to its geographic importance, neither it had any chances of escaping attacks from outside nor had the option to get uninvolved in the worlds’ war. Hence, it’s compelled to strategize its foreign policy with powerful tools such as to engage in Global ventures and involve in humanitarian operations both to make use of fresh opportunities and protect itself from threats arising from the backdrop.71 Although Turkiye had implemented its first Aid programme in the mid-1980s according to the OECD’s DAC criteria, lack of amount and variety of aid alongside with poor management had kept it away from international aid activities. Moreover, it was an aid receiving country in that period. With the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 90s, The Turkish Cooperation and Development Agency (TIKA) was founded in 1992 to coordinate and execute aid works mainly in the Central Asian Turkic countries. However, factors like volatile economic conditions, political crisis and lack of institutional structure etc. had forced the aid activities to be limited within the Turkic and Caucasian countries thus preventing it from playing a proactive international role. Although TIKA had not been very effective until 2003, It began to play a major role in shaping Turkiye’s foreign policy after being directly attached to the Prime Ministry under the AKP Government since 2002. This was the phase where a systematic and structural change in international aid policy was observed, leading to the establishment of a comprehensive corporation strategy focusing on an expansion in the range of aid activities in terms of area, depth, and strength. One of the main influencing causes was the economic and political stability in the country due to single party government unlike the previous coalition atmosphere which had been a major hindrance for developments in almost every area. A decisive and gradual process of democratization under the AKP 71 Republic of Turkiye Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “Turkiye’s enterprising and Humanitarian Foreign Policy,” Accessed August 20th 2022. https://www.mfa.gov.tr/synopsis-of-the-turkish-foreign- policy.en.mfa. 33 administration had thereby led to the increase in FDI, eventually pushing it to the status of 16th largest economy in the world within a decade of time. The activities of state and non-state aid organizations also began to widespread around the world in this phase, thus making Turkiye play an active role in the global politics once again.72 3.4 Humanitarianism and AKP Humanitarian activities began to reach new heights under the AKP, unlike the previous administrations that had taken power over the course of time since the establishment of the Republic. In fact, the concept of Humanitarianism is used as one of AKP’s major foreign diplomacy tools in order to engage with the countries under its scope especially the ones with which it had historical bonds in the past, extending from the Balkans to Africa, Middle East to Southeast Asia. The AKP’s model of Humanitarian Diplomacy is conceptualized with both historical and policy dimensions. The historical dimension examines and justifies Humanitarian diplomacy while the policy dimension defines its very content. The political rhetoric of humanitarian diplomacy is developed as the ‘Turkish Model’ by the AKP Government, and focusses more on bilateral corporation than multilateral, with exceptions. With regard to its diplomacy aspect, it goes way beyond being solely humanitarian assistance and extends to business agreements, development projects, peace building and even political relationship etc. aiming for a long-term relationship. According to the former Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, Turkiye’s Humanitarian diplomacy is based on a critical equilibrium between conscience and power. He explains this as, if a State has conscience but no power it depicts weakness, whereas if a state has power but not conscience it is tyranny. He argues that Turkiye possesses both of them and supports the argument with the presence of Turkiye in Gaza, Somalia, Myanmar etc.73 President Erdoğan has repeatedly stressed on the same subject among the 72 Cemalettin Haşimi, “Turkiye’s Humanitarian Diplomacy and Development Cooporation,” Insight Turkiye, 2014, Volume 16, Number 1, pp.127-145 https://www.insightTurkiye.com/articles/Turkiyes- humanitarian-diplomacy-and-development-cooperation 73 Meliha Benli Altunısık, “Turkiye’s Humanitarian Diplomacy: The AKP Model,” Chr. Michelsen Institute (CMI Brief no. 2019:08), January 1st 2019. https://www.cmi.no/publications/6973-Turkiyes- humanitarian-diplomacy-the-akp-model. 34 local and international arena and additionally has been vocal against the inaction of international community during crises in the third world countries. His tone has been especially ‘anti-western’ and more critical towards western powers, disparaging their colonial pasts and naming it the cause for the present crisis in most of the underdeveloped nations. However, the whole story has been read with a different perspective by some political specialists in the country. They argue that the domestic politics is interwoven with its foreign policy; the government uses its foreign policy to sustain support in its local politics by projecting a progressive-globalist image to gain lead over its opposition parties thus winning the hearts of its people.74 This depicts the potential amount of audience that the AKP can attract towards its ideology of international assistance. The people in general are abundantly generous when it comes to international aid due to three main reasons. First being Its Geographical position; Turkiye itself being afflicted with various natural destructions time to time ending up with the loss of thousands of human lives and material and immaterial ruins in the aftermath. These kinds of past experiences have taught the people to engage in solidarity regardless of the geographical location they live in. Secondly the faith-based sentiment that interconnects people with the same faith holders around the world. This long-enrooted tradition inspired by religious beliefs has sound influence in the society which motivates them towards merits. Normally funds are collected during the Friday congregation or during religious festivals and funded throughout the world for different causes. It is estimated that around 75% of funds are collected from fundraisings organized by the government apart from its budgetary allocation. Thirdly humanitarian assistance is also regarded as a heritage passed on by its Ottoman past and the public see it as a revival of its grandeur. They believe that the powerful past of the Ottoman empire could be brought back by engaging in such global activities. The AKP ensures to make what people desire to see, come true or at least reflect.75 74 Evren Balta, “The AKP’s Foreign Policy as Populist Governance,” MERIP, December 15th 2018. https://merip.org/2018/12/the-akps-foreign-policy-as-populist-governance/ 75 Yonca Ozdemir, “AKP’s Neoliberal Populism and Contradictions of New Social Policies in Turkey.” CONTEMPORARY POLITICS, 2020, pp.245–267. https://hdl.handle.net/11511/64329. 35 Figure 1 International humanitarian assistance, 2015–2019. “International humanitarian assistance.” Global Humanitarian Assistance Report 2020, p.29 3.5 Turkiye’s position in International Humanitarianism and statistics Turkiye was recorded as the highest Humanitarian aid provider for three consecutive years and in 2019 alone It accounted for 26% of the total humanitarian Aids around the world.76 When compared to its GNI ratio, Turkiye’s humanitarian aid expenditure amounted to be 0.84% followed by USA and Germany being 0.03% and 0.08% respectively.77 This achievement of Turkiye is commendable considering its hostile political and economic conditions faced due to spontaneous developments that have been emanating both in the region and within itself since the beginning of the past decade. This apparently shows how much importance is given both by the country’s Administration and the public towards humanitarian assistance despite the external factors. Under this topic we would briefly examine Turkiye’s position in Global humanitarian engagement and analyze the facts quantitatively with statistical data obtained mainly from the Global Humanitarian assistance Report. The International humanitarian aid decreased by 5% from 2018 to 2019 due to the decrease in the funds of public donors. However, the amount was still higher in 2019 with $3.3 billion compared to 2015, contributed by the increase in funding of private sector with an amount of 8% from 2018-2019 to $6.4 billion. Overall, from 2015 to 2019 the 76 Gokhan Ergocun, “Turkiye Continues to Be Ranked among Top Donor Countries,” Anadolu Agency, Accessed May 8th 2023. https://www.aa.com.tr/en/world/Turkiye-continues-to-be-ranked-among-top- donor-countries/2300237 77 Gokhan Ergocun, “Turkiye accounts for 26% of 2019 world humanitarian aid,” Anadolu Agency, https://www.aa.com.tr/en/economy/Turkiye-accounts-for-26-of-2019-world-humanitarian- aid/1919544#:~:text=Turkiye%20was%20ranked%20third%20on,3.6%20million%20as%20of%20May. 36 Figure 2 20 contributors of the largest amounts of international humanitarian assistance. “International humanitarian assistance.” Global Humanitarian Assistance Report 2020, p.35 global private sector funding to international humanitarian assistance is estimated to have grown by 3% amounting to $192 million.78 The chart above consists of the 20 biggest donors in 2019. However, this also shows that Humanitarian assistance has fallen globally for the first time in 2019, since 2012. The color of Turkiye in the chart is different because it hosts a huge number of Syrian refugees which should be analyzed differently due to its nature of assistance. Apart from this, the three biggest contributors on this year were the US, Germany, and UK, with a combined contribution of 58% of all the international humanitarian assistance from public donors. 78 Development Initiatives, “International humanitarian assistance,” Global Humanitarian Assistance Report 2020, p.29 https://devinit.org/resources/global-humanitarian-assistance-report-2020/executive- summary/ 37 Although the general assistance would have had a negative impact globally, Turkiye’s health care assistance made during the pandemic is another topic that must be highlighted. While contending its own Covid battle, Turkiye met the need of 155 out of 158 countries that requested aid in various categories ranging from Material grants, cash assistance, export permissions etc. Additionally, Turkiye also assisted international aid organizations like the OCHA, UNICEF, PAF, SICA, CARICOM, NATO, IGAD, WHO, OSCE either partially or in whole. The aid mostly contained medical equipment like the PPE (Personal protective equipment) and respiratory devices produced in Turkiye. Food aid was also given to countries which had food security threats. Another effective aid method was to provide technical education in producing PPEs in a selected list of countries like Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Colombia, Gambia, Georgia, Kingdom of Eswatini, Moldova, Mozambique, Serbia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria and Tajikistan etc. through the Turkish Corporation and Coordination Agency (TIKA).79 Spontaneous aids like these at a time of crisis could elevate Turkiye’s image and create the impression of a ‘powerful-Strong Nation’ over the aid-recipients. Having contributed vastly during one of the deadliest human crises that have occurred in 100 years, Turkiye unquestionably attained significant heights with its humanitarian-health diplomacy. 3.6 State sponsored aid Organizations of Turkiye As a Nation which gives high priority for humanitarian aid work, the Turkish Government itself sponsors its own Organizations who carry out activities both locally and abroad. Over the past few decades, these organizations have been successful in achieving hundreds of projects that have made an impact in the relevant communities. The Author believes that, having a brief discussion on them in the thesis would contribute in enriching the topic of the research better. 79 Republic of Turkiye Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “Our Role and Vision During the Coronavirus Pandemic,” https://www.mfa.gov.tr/koronavirus-salginindaki-rol-ve-vizyonumuz-6-11-2020.en.mfa 38 3.6.1 TIKA Once the Soviet Union was dissolved in the early 90s, the need for development in key areas in the Turkic countries was realized. Hence the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency was found in the Turkish Republic to carry this task in those countries thus enhance dual and regional relationship. However, with the speeding up of globalization process in the post millennium era, as an important part of its foreign policy priorities, the need to reach out to every part of the developing world was considered imminent along with the burgeoning opportunities and facilities