Ottoman soft power and its place in the international system

Abstract

Soft power is a new concept in international relations and its history has been a question of interest in recent years. The term has been also widely used in the studies of Turkish foreign policy in the last two decades. This study aims to demonstrate that the use of soft power in Turkish foreign policy was not new and has a history of its own which dates back to the Ottoman Empire. The study will not present a historical study of its own that focuses on a certain event or phenomenon but bring together examples of how the Ottoman Empire has used means of soft power in its relationship with other states. By comparing these examples over time, it hopes to call attention to how Ottoman soft power has changed over time depending on the shifts in the international balance of power.