The Gülen Movement and Turkish Soft Power in the South Caucasus and the Middle East

Bayram Balci (1)

1 CERI - Centre de recherches internationales (Sciences Po, CNRS)

This chapter focuses on a concrete case study in Turkey’s close neighborhood. I examine the exceptional role played by a social and religious organization that is unique in the Muslim world, namely the movement of Fethullah Gülen. The following questions are addressed: To what extent did the Gülen movement contribute to the development of Turkey’s soft power in both the South Caucasus and the Middle East? Reciprocally, how did the Gülen movement benefit from the government’s support and prestige to develop its own influence? Finally, I question the durability of the bond between Gülen and Turkey’s soft power through the lens of the clash between Gülen, the charismatic leader of the hizmet movement, and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the even more charismatic leader of the Turkish executive power since 2002.

Keywords: Turkey; Fethullah Gülen; soft power; Middle East; South Caucasus; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan

Domains: Humanities and Social Sciences; Political science

Bayram Balci. The Gülen Movement and Turkish Soft Power in the South Caucasus and the Middle East. [Research Report] Georgetown University Press. 2017, pp.15 - 16. ⟨hal-03457537⟩