Turkish series exportation market and its counterflow ‘soft power’ effects

Through the example of Turkish series production and their international diffusion this paper aims to question the use and limits of the concept of soft power, and more precisely the role given to cultural contents in the definition of soft power given by J. Nye himself. The article begins considering the diversity of public reactions to Turkish series throughout the region surrounding Turkey, showing how such reactions are used in diplomatic speeches or in some scientific papers to prove the evidence of a Turkish soft power. Exploring the mechanisms of audiovisual production in Turkey and diffusion of Turkish series by the private sector on international markets this article shows how the image of the Turkey proposed in its audiovisual production is in fact more a reflection of Turkey’s values as stated in its Constitution than a direct translation of governmental intentions. The latter point conducts us to observe and develop the deep contradictions between in one hand Turkey’s image through its series, and in the other hand the new form of nation-branding of Turkish diplomacy since its shift of axis. The last part finally proposes to reconceptualize the effects of transnational audiovisual contents in foreign policies in terms closer to the field of communication sciences rather than trying to find an alternative within the limits proposed by J. Nye. The paper concludes on the idea soft power is quite ineffective as an analytical category but more likely to solely be able to describe a spectrum of practices of contemporary public diplomacy in a context where the role of nations’ international communication skills increased.