The Soft Power Of Turkish Historical Drama Marketed At The Arab World Payitaht: Abdülhamid Series As A Model

Résumé: Since the Justice and Development party (AKP) came to power in 2002, Turkey’s foreign policy has went through profound developments, specifically in terms of the Arab world given its historical, strategic, and economic importance. In order for its foreign policy ambitions to be met, Turkey had to culturally and historically reintegrate itself with the Arab world. This also meant cleansing Turkey’s image from misconceptions, especially in regards to its relations with the Zionist entity and to its alienation from its culture as well as its secular extremism. It was then necessary to make use of Soft Power tools such as media, cinema, and culture in order to appeal to peoples of the Arab region and to reconcile with them on the grounds of historical and religious ties and similarities in cultures and customs. Thus, Ottoman history was invoked to target religious feelings and drama became one of the soft infiltration strategies on which the AKP relied to market an ideal image of Turkey; to reintegrate the Arab world by rebuilding relations with it; to foster the sympathy of the region’s peoples; and to make Turkey’s political, economic, and social models admirable.

Publié dans la revue: آفاق سينمائية