The Impact of Christian Minority on Shaping Türkiye’s Profile

Abstract

Given the fact that Türkiye is located in a culturally-diverse and multi-confessional area, interactions with alterities have been numerous. We analyse some relevant encounters with Christians and their impact on shaping Türkiye’s profile, given that Christians have been present in Turks’ history and development as a state. Our methodology is qualitative, with a focus on a SWOT analysis regarding “strengths”, “weaknesses”, “opportunities” and “threats” and the results focus on the impact of Christians in shaping the country’s profile: Christians have been present in Turks’ history. The results of the analysis reflect varied interactions between the two entities: military (coercive), social and political, today being shaped under the umbrella of cultural or public diplomacy practices. “Strengths” are mainly related to the inheritance of the Ottoman millet, “weaknesses” are related to perception as alterity; “opportunities” describe the state’s actual public diplomacy, while “threats” might arise from nationalism and faith-based diplomacy.