The consequences of the political warfare between the AKP government and the Gulen movement have been thus far discussed widely across the academic and media circles. However, its possible impact on Turkey’s humanitarian diplomacy, which has recently been one of the most highlighted tenets of its foreign policy, is a question yet to be discussed.

During the last decade Turkey, as a young republic and budding democracy, has demonstrated its ability to contain political crises and domestic discontent. The country still has a long way to go, but there are at least signs of shifts in the government’s attitude and a political will to move forward, manifesting in gradual but permanent changes.

Turkey’s exports of home-grown television dramas play a key role in wielding “soft power” across the region, a Turkish culture minister has said.  By creating a lasting influence on Turkey’s image in the region, popular dramas are among the country’s most well-known economic and cultural exports, said Turkish Minister of Culture and Tourism Ömer Çelik June 12.

Thirty-seven young people from across the Balkans gathered in Turkey last month to participate in a youth conference in order to boost interaction between Turkey and the Balkan countries. The new project, organised by the Prime Ministry's Office of Public Diplomacy, invited young people from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), Bulgaria, Kosovo and Macedonia.

Hassan Rouhani, the Iranian president, has said that, Turkey and Iran are two important countries in the Islamic world and determined to stand against violence and extremism in the Middle East.  In a joint press conference with Rouhani, Abdullah Gul, the Turkish president, said that they discussed political, economic and cultural relations.

Amid efforts to discredit negative foreign press coverage and counter with their own English-language take on the news, Turkish politicians found support in an advertorial from HSBC Holdings Plc. 

Turkey and the Central Asia's Turkic countries should boost cooperation to revive the "Silk Road," which was once the most influential trading route in the world, Turkmenistan's President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov said Tuesday. "Rebuilding the Silk Road which was used by our ancestors would be significant not only for Turkmenistan and Turkey, but also for the whole world," Berdimuhamedov told a joint press conference with Turkey's Parliament Speaker Cemil Cicek in Ankara. Stressing the importance of natural gas which flows through all Turkic republics, the Turkmen president said the transpo