The Parameters Of Turkish Foreign Aid Policy In The Akp Era

Official URL: https://risc01.sabanciuniv.edu/record=b3200012

As a middle power and an emerging donor, Turkey both receives and distributes foreign aid. The discrepancy between the volume of aid distributed and received, along with Turkey’s position as a top donor with respect to aid as a share of the country’s GNI makes Turkey an interesting case. Second, despite having the same political party in government, the variation in Turkey’s foreign aid policy deserves closer attention. Consequently, this thesis addresses the following questions: 1) How do the commonly accepted drivers of foreign aid affect Turkey’s humanitarian and development aid between 1990 and 2020? 2) How does religious similarity with the recipient affect Turkey’s foreign aid? 3) What underlying dynamics explain the effect of religion on Turkey’s foreign aid? The findings indicate that Turkey assumed different policy positions over time in reaction to changing international, regional, and domestic dynamics. The government used both material and ideational tools to assert influence, where the Islamist tradition constituted the normative basis. Furthermore, a discourse around religion was instrumentalized to assert agency abroad and dominate the political scene at home. Foreign aid, as a niche area, provided Turkey with an opening to exert itself as an emerging middle power and allowed flexibility to change policies as needed during turbulent periods. This thesis contributes to the literature by 1) expanding the period of analysis and examining the variation in the effects of various factors on Turkish aid over time, and 2) connecting the material and non-material factors in explaining the observed variation.