What this brief overview argues is that Turkey has consistently tried to avert recourse to intervention and war in the Middle East and to promote diplomatic approaches that rely exclusively on soft power.

The “purpose of the concert was to showcase the culture of Turkey while at the same time raise money for earthquake victims. “At the same time, it is also an act of cultural diplomacy... we hope to build bridges by showing the more human side of our identities.”

It is time for Ankara to recognize that there are serious differences between it and Tehran's regional visions. All in all, Iran's lack of democracy limits the scope of this country's foreign policy. Iran cannot generate the soft power that would show it to be a natural supporter of all pro-democratic movements in the Islamic world.

The State Department on Monday launched a new Turkish-language Twitter account, its 10th official feed designed to spread the word about US foreign policy in a language other than English. The Turkish account is @ABDTurk and will be used by the U.S. Embassy in Turkey.

Given that the EU considers liberal democratic transformation the main criteria of membership, Turkey thus accelerated the process of de-securitization and worked to increase its soft power identity, a sine qua non condition to gain credibility in Western eyes.

Thus, one should not be very optimistic about the US ability to create effective linkages with the nascent civilian governments of the region, not even Turkey's. It is “INT'L 101” level knowledge that the main US weakness is public diplomacy.

Greek TV channels realised that buying the glitzy tales of forbidden love... from long-standing regional rival Turkey, was cheaper than filming their own..."Greeks feel closer to Turks than they did," he told Reuters. "Sometimes soft power is more important than political power."

Turkey’s geopolitical importance enables Turkey to use its soft power to establish prosperity in neighbouring regions and to create win-win situations. Aside from actively engaging in international organizations, Turkey has also promoted its “conservative democracy” as a model for transforming Arab societies throughout the Middle East.