Analysis

February 4, 2013

Summary: Turkey is an emerging donor in the global development assistance regime. While the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) oversees foreign aid policy and funds many projects worldwide, it is also coordinating a plethora of public and non-governmental institutions that have been disbursing technical assistance, economic aid, humanitarian aid, and cultural and scientific cooperation funds. Closer attention is warranted to better comprehend the meaning of Turkeys emerging role in development aid both in a global context and in terms of its new foreign policy.

Turkeys Development Assistance Policy: How to Make Sense of the New Guy on the Block
by aban Karda
Introduction Turkey is an emerging donor in the global development assistance regime. While the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) oversees foreign aid policy and funds many projects worldwide, it is also coordinating a plethora of public and nongovernmental institutions that have been disbursing technical assistance, economic aid, humanitarian aid, and cultural and scientific cooperation funds. TIKA now has field offices in more than 30 countries, and Turkish NGOs carry out projects in numerous emergencies worldwide. Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag, whose portfolio covers TIKA, recently announced that in the last decade, Turkeys total development assistance increased almost 27 fold and amounted to around US$2.3 billion in 2011. While the funds from public sources were around $1.3 billion, the remaining amount was disbursed through non-governmental sources. Government representatives continue to highlight this development as one of Turkeys many achievements, and are careful to underline that while Turkeys development assistance figures grew, the traditional Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) donors contributions declined, due to the global economic crisis. That development is impressive, considering that, for a long time, Turkey was a country that benefited from Western development assistance in the post-War international system. Parallel to its economic development record in the post-Cold War era, Turkey has increased its international assistance progressively. Under the AK Partys rule in the last decade, that progress took a remarkable upturn, which understandably has been a source of pride for the government. Nonetheless, closer attention is warranted to better comprehend the meaning of Turkeys emerging role in development aid both in a global context and in terms of its new foreign policy. Turkeys ODA in Global Context As much as it sounds staggering on its own right, Turkeys overseas development assistance (ODA) trajectory is hardly unique. First, Turkeys growing contributions are in line with the broader trends in the global aid regime. Those studying the qualitative shifts in development cooperation

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refer to the rise of new donors that are not in the OECDs Development Assistance Committee as major providers of aid. The rising donors and their impact on the traditional development cooperation patterns in many ways reflect the transformation of world economy, whereby the nonWestern world accounts for a larger share of the global economic activity and wealth. Therefore, Turkeys growing visibility in this field, first and foremost, must be discussed against the background of the rising donors phenomenon. While Turkey is indeed making commendable inroads into this area, it is part of a wider process. Second, with over $125 billion, the traditional donors still distribute a major share of the global development aid. Although the new donors contributions might have increased several-fold in a few years timeframe, overall, they account for around 10 percent of global aid flows. Nonetheless, their significance lies in the fact that they might break the monopoly of the traditional donors and that at a time of global recession, their emergence on this stage provides fresh impetus to rethink the conventional wisdom on global development policies. While Turkey is justified in highlighting its growing contributions, it would be important to bear in mind that the traditional donors still remain major sources of development assistance. Development Assistance and Turkish Foreign Policy The evolution of Turkeys experience in development assistance has been reflective of the broader transformations in Turkeys economy and foreign policy orientation. First, Turkeys foreign policy toolkit has been diversified since the 1980s, complementing its outward orientation in international relations. This process took a visible turn in the last decade. Turkey has embraced new instruments to support its foreign policy apparatus, such as public diplomacy, peace operations, economic interdependence, mediation, and cultural diplomacy, among others. In many regions of interest, Turkeys counterparts are developing societies or countries that are undergoing major social, economic, or political transformation, and Turkeys provision of development assistance in various forms has facilitated the deepening of ties to different countries. Notwithstanding the earlier instances of sporadic assistance, the institutionalization of development policies was a product of the early post-Cold War era conditions. Real-

The evolution of Turkeys experience in development assistance has been reflective of the broader transformations in Turkeys economy and foreign policy orientation.
izing the need for more effective organization in this field, Turkey has streamlined the institutional infrastructure in the coordination and reporting of development assistance. In 1992, Turkey formed the bureaucratic mechanisms in the foreign ministry, which evolved into modern day TIKA. In 1999, TIKA was moved to the prime ministers office, with extended competences and resources. By 2005, TIKA was tasked as the national coordinating agency for the official and non-governmental aid, and it revised the reporting procedures in line with international standards. Second, the targeted regions of Turkeys aid outflows reflect the transformations in Turkeys foreign policy priorities. Through the establishment of TIKA, initially, Turkey largely sought to coordinate its assistance to the new states in the post-Soviet geography, which resonated well with its pursuit of a regional influence and enhanced relations with Central Asian and Caucasian republics. Similarly, the Balkans, another area of immediate strategic interest for Turkey, was a major focus of attention for TIKAs activities. With the foundation of TIKA within the foreign ministry, Turkey hoped to institutionalize its flourishing ties with these regions as part of a broader strategic vision. Parallel to the expansion of aid outflows in the last decade, the geographic distribution has also widened. For several years now, Afghanistan has received the lions share of TIKAs overseas operations. Its growing commitment became a cornerstone of Turkeys policy toward Afghanistan, which has been also a major item on the joint Turkeytransatlantic security agenda. While Turkey supported the transatlantic policy on Afghanistan, by dispatching troops to the ISAF, it also worked hard to emphasize that it was not

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in favor of a military solution to the conflict. Through its provision of development assistance, Turkey accentuated its civilian approach to the peace-building and reconstruction challenges in Afghanistan. Turkeys development assistance has moved further beyond its immediate neighborhoods. This was a time Turkey has progressively framed its international objectives with a globalist language, working to develop ties with different continents and gain prominence in international organizations. Thus, Turkish leaders have frequented African, Asian, or Latin American capitals with an aim to develop strategic partnerships with new actors. For the last three years, Turkish society and governmental sources were mobilized for spectacular fundraising campaigns to address humanitarian emergency caused by an earthquake in Pakistan, famine in Africa, and ethnic hatred against Muslims in Myanmar. The massive mobilization for Somalia in the summer of 2011 saw Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoan paying a historic visit to Mogadishu, which alerted many to Turkeys potential as a global humanitarian power. Not only TIKA but also many of Turkeys non-governmental humanitarian aid organizations have run numerous projects in Africa, which coincided with Turkeys new vision of opening to Africa. Turkeys campaign for a non-permanent UN Security Council seat for 2010-2011 precipitated a wave of Turkish aid activism toward Africa, and the overwhelming support it received underscored the dividends from such moves. Today, a growing number of Turkish embassies in Africa goes hand-in-hand with the new TIKA offices in the continent. During the same period, Turkey has also moved to carry out development projects in the Middle East. As Turkey stepped into Middle Eastern affairs, especially as a regional peace broker and mediator, it also initiated projects toward Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, Yemen, and Iraq. It was through its involvement in these countries that Turkeys Middle East policy was in the spotlight even before the onset of the popular uprisings. In the wake of the Arab Spring, Turkey sees potential for future involvement in the countries that are going through massive social, economic, and political transformation, and it has already made commitments in this direction. Third, and more significantly, the motivations driving foreign aid help to make clear the evolution of the values

In the wake of the Arab Spring, Turkey sees potential for future involvement in the countries that are going through massive social, economic, and political transformation.
underpinning Turkish foreign policy and how Turkey perceives its place in the world. Foreign aid in general has hardly been devoid of political considerations, and Turkey too has used it in support of its foreign policy objectives. While in some cases, Turkeys assistance is motivated by purely global humanitarian considerations and takes the form of technical assistance or development credits, in other cases, Turkey supports cultural projects and works toward the goal of reconnecting with the countries with which it shares a common, cultural, and historic heritage. The emphasis that Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu places on Turkeys historic responsibility towards civilizational kin has provided added impetus for channeling aid to specific regions. In addition to carrying out technical assistance projects that are intended to bolster ties with the countries in the Ottoman-Turkish cultural zone by contributing to their economic and political development, some projects supported by Turkey focused on the discovery or restoration of historic artifacts or monuments in a geography stretching from Mongolia to the Balkans. Similarly, Turkey has promoted the study of Turkish language and culture abroad as well as providing scholarships, through which it hopes to increase its soft power in the surrounding regions. However, as TIKAs operations in Serbia or Montenegro indicate, Turkey is careful to avoid creating an image that its aid policy targets only the countries in the shared civilizational zone. Also, Turkeys contributions to development aid play an instrumental role in its ethical criticism of the international order on the grounds that it fails to distribute justice. Both

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public and non-governmental sources have delivered large amounts of aid in humanitarian emergencies worldwide, reflecting the globalist emphasis in Turkeys foreign policy. In an effort to draw attention to the issue of underdevelopment, Turkey, for instance, organized the UN Least Developed Countries summit in 2011. Turkeys motto was to help at least some of these countries graduate from the least developed countries league. Interestingly, Turkeys interest toward Africa has been driven by humanitarian NGOs, which has been yet another dimension of the new Turkish foreign policy, with civil society organizations and humanitarian NGOs playing a larger role in policy processes. For example, Kani Torun, formerly with a medical NGO active in Africa, was appointed as the new Turkish ambassador to Mogadishu. Last but not least, Turkeys growing ability to deliver development aid squares nicely with its recent emphasis on acting as a mediator and peace broker in international disputes. By channeling technical assistance or financial credits, for instance, Turkey has hoped to complement its mediation efforts for the resolution of the disputes between Palestinian groups or the dispute between Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Road Ahead Turkeys development aid has expanded in terms of numbers, content, and areas of operation. Just as has been the case for Turkeys foreign policy in general, the challenge now is to ensure the sustainability of this activism, so that the breadth achieved in the last decade throughout the globe does not come at the expense of depth. The development assistance policy is grounded in a broader strategic thinking and has its inherent priority-list, which suggests that as long as the current government is in power, its importance in Turkish foreign policy will rise. There is also an ongoing process to streamline the institutional mechanisms tasked to execute the aid policy, so that it is integrated with other elements of Turkish foreign policy through efficient inter-agency coordination and there is harmonious coordination between the public and civilian sources. In the global context, Turkey will come under pressure to better contextualize its contributions and define its niche in the global aid community. Turkey as a new actor might trigger interesting reactions from other donors. So far, Turkey has managed to find a modus operandi with other players in Eurasia and the Balkans. Turkey might need to walk a fine line as it steps into new territory in Africa or the Middle East, and work carefully to conduct its relations with conventional donors such as France and new donors such as China without running into open confrontation. Moreover, it will be important for Turkey to decide how to position itself in the evolving divide between the traditional OECD donors and rising donors in the global South. Turkey might eventually opt to join the OECDs DAC, which also will symbolically mark its graduation into the league of developed nations, but it appears determined to advocate its own course in approaches to international development as well as sustaining the rhetorical criticism of the Western model of development.

About the Author

Dr. aban Karda works as an associate professor of international relations in the Department of International Relations at TOBB University of Economics and Technology in Ankara.

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