Turkey as an ‘Emerging Donor’ and the Arab Uprisings

Abstract

The Justice and Development Party (AKP) government, which came to power in 2002, has increasingly been using aid as an instrument of foreign policy, including in the Arab world. This increased with the Arab uprisings and has peaked with the ongoing civil war in Syria, reaching $2 billion in 2012. Despite substantial changes in the amount and geographical coverage of aid after the ‘Arab Spring’, there are also substantive continuities in Turkey's aid policy. The AKP has been focused on security and stability, and on consolidating power among new regimes. The direction of aid has thus followed that of regional foreign policy, and the government's interests have been given an ideational framing through notions of historical and cultural affinity and responsibility.

Notes

^1. Faith-based NGOs especially have become very active in foreign aid in recent years, yet they are outside the scope of this study.

^2. The term ‘emerging donors’ refers to emerging economies that have started to become actors in the international aid system, in contrast to the more established donors that are members of the OECD's Development Assistance Committee (DAC).

^3. Kulaklıkaya was the president of TİKA from 2007 to 2011 and Aybey worked as a technical assistance expert.

^4. Interview with a TİKA official, 28 August 2013.

^5. As of 2013 TİKA has offices in Senegal, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Sudan (2), Yemen, Syria, the West Bank and Gaza, Israel (Jerusalem), Georgia, Azerbaijan, Moldavia, Ukraine (2), Mongolia, Kazakhstan (2), Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan (2), Pakistan, Myanmar, Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia, Albania, Kosovo, Serbia.

^6. Turkey is a member of the OECD but not part of the OECD-DAC, although it reports to it. In 2012, among 27 OECD-DAC countries, 11 surpassed Turkey's official development aid of $2,422 million: United States (25,607 million), Germany (8,584), United Kingdom (8,709), France (7,928), Japan (6,402), Australia (4,561), Canada (4,053), Netherlands (3,858), Sweden (3,638), Norway (3,523) and Switzerland (2,445) (OECD, 2013).

^7. According to the OECD other non-DAC OECD countries' official development assistance for 2012 (in $ million) was: ‘Bulgaria 39.95; Chinese Taipei 304.50; Cyprus 25.08; Estonia 23.24; Hungary 118.38; Israel 171.15; Kuwait 149.16; Latvia 21.11; Liechtenstein 4.70; Lithuania 51.91; Malta 18.58; Romania 142.41; Russia 485.01; Saudi Arabia 1298.87; Thailand 16.90; UAE 1069.72’ (OECD, 2013).

^8. Similar to other emergent donor countries such as Brazil, China, India, South Africa and Venezuela, Turkey continues to receive development aid (Chandy, 2012).

^9. Interview with a TİKA official, 28 August 2013.

^10. Comments by a diplomat at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 15 February 2013.

^11. Interview with a TİKA official, 28 August 2013.

^12. Ibid.

^13. Interview with FM Davutoğlu, TİKA Dünyası, No. 2, 2012, p. 20.

^14. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs the total amount of official aid since 1995, in kind and cash, provided to Palestine, bilaterally or through international organizations, is over $30 million. Available at http://www.mfa.gov.tr/turkey_s-political-relations-with-the-palestinian-national-authority.en.mfa (accessed 28 December 2013).

^15. Fidan served as the head of TİKA from December 2003 to November 2007 when he was appointed as the chief advisor to the prime minister. Fidan currently serves as the head of the National Intelligence Organization. Nurdun has been working as a senior expert at TİKA.

^16. Filippo Grandi, Commissioner-General of UNRWA, announced that countries such as Turkey and Brazil have substantially increased their contributions to the Agency, including through the provision of food aid. Statement by Filippo Grandi, Available at http://www.unrwa.org/newsroom/official-statements/statement-filippo-grandi-commissioner-general-unrwa-fourth-committee (accessed 29 December 2013).

^17. Ministry of Economy website, Relations with Iraq, Available at http://www.economy.gov.tr/index.cfm?sayfa = countriesandregions&country = IQ&region = 4 (accessed 29 December 2013).

^18. Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs website, Available at http://www.mfa.gov.tr/turkiye_nin_-insani-yardimlari.tr.mfa (accessed 28 December 2013).

^19. Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs website, Available at http://www.mfa.gov.tr/turkiye_nin_2005-yili-insani-yardimlari.tr.mfa and http://www.mfa.gov.tr/turkiye_nin-2007-yili-insani-yardimlari-_bugune-kadar_-.tr.mfa (accessed 28 December 2013).

^20. ‘Syrian Turkmen Leader Praises Turkish Humanitarian Aid’, World Bulletin, 16 January 2014, Available at http://www.worldbulletin.net/?aType = haber&ArticleID = 127056 (accessed 23 January 2014).

^21. TESEV Dış Politika Programı, Available at http://www.tesev.org.tr/dis-politika-programi/Program/6.html

^22. Carothers and Young (2011) remind us that emergent donors typically make this ‘claim to take advantage of friendly relations with other developing countries to advocate for democracy and human rights behind the scenes’. The counter-argument is that these engagements strengthen rather than weaken authoritarian regimes.

^23. This five-week Young Diplomats Programme, in fact, preceded the AKP government. It was started by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1992 initially aiming to train young diplomats from former Soviet Republics and the Balkans, and later extended to other regions including the Middle East in 2004. By 2011, 707 foreign diplomats had participated in this programme.

^24. In Egypt the AKP provided election advice to the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), the party of the Muslim Brotherhood, especially during the presidential elections, mainly ‘to correct the image that the Muslim Brotherhood aims to monopolize political activity’. ‘The Freedom and Justice Party seeks election advice from Turkey's ruling party’, Egypt Independent, 18 November 2011, Available at http://www.egyptindependent.com/news/freedom-and-justice-party-seeks-election-advice-turkeys-ruling-party (accessed 20 September 2013).

^25. TİKA's Signature on the Giant Cooperation between Turkey and Tunisia, Available at http://www.tika.gov.tr/en/haber/tikas-signature-on-the-giant-cooperation-between-turkey-and-tunisia/524 (accessed 15 September 2013).

^26. ‘Egypt signs $1 bn loan deal with Turkey’, ahram online, 30 September 2012, Available at http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/3/12/54361/Business/Economy/Egypt-signs-bn-loan-deal-with-Turkey-Report.aspx (accessed 23 January 2014)

^27. See, for instance, Demokrasi Seferi (Democracy Expedition), Sabah, 17 June 2011, Available at http://www.sabah.com.tr/Gundem/2011/06/17/demokrasi-mesajini-misirdan-verecek (accessed 29 December 2013) and ‘Mısırlı Gençler CHP'de (Egyptian Youth at CHP)’, Zaman, 7 June 2011, Available at http://www.zaman.com.tr/politika_misirli-gencler-chpde_1144070.html (accessed 29 December 2013).

^28. Egypt became Turkey's largest goods export market in Africa by 2012. Turkish exports to Egypt that year were $3.7 billion, increasing 33.3 per cent from 2011 ($2.7 billion). Turkish FDI amounted to $2 billion by that point. Turkish Ministry of Economy website, Relations with Egypt, Available at http://www.economy.gov.tr/index.cfm?sayfa = countriesandregions&country = EG&region = 0 (accessed 29 December 2013).

^29. Libyan PM to attend graduation for police trainees in Turkey, Today's Zaman, 17 February 2014, Available at http://www.todayszaman.com/news-307364-libyan-pm-to-attend-graduation-for-police-trainees-in-turkey.html (accessed 22 September 2014).

^30. Ministry of Economy website, Relations with Libya, Available at http://www.economy.gov.tr/index.cfm?sayfa = countriesandregions&country = LY&region = 0 (accessed 29 December 2013).

^31. ‘Turkey's help goes further yet’, Yemen Post, 13 February 2013, Available at http://yemenpost.net/Detail123456789.aspx?ID = 3&SubID = 6535 (accessed 18 June 2013).

^32. Ministry of Economy website, Relations with Yemen, Available at http://www.economy.gov.tr/index.cfm?sayfa = countriesandregions&country = YE&region = 4 (accessed 29 December 2013).

^33. According to OECD-DAC, countries receiving refugees may only include them in their calculations of official development assistance during the first 12 months of their stay. Thus, development assistance figures will have to be adjusted soon.

^34. As of mid-January 2014, there were 571,684 registered Syrian refugees in Turkey. That number was 500,000 four months earlier: Foreign Ministry, Hürriyet Daily News, 4 September 2013, Available at http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/number-of-syrian-refugees-in-turkey-passes-500000-mark-foreign-ministry.aspx?pageID = 238&nid = 53868&NewsCatID = 338 (accessed 9 September 2013) and http://data.unhcr.org/syrianrefugees/country.php?id = 224 (accessed 18 January 2014).

^35. UNHCR, Registered Syrian Refugees in surrounding states triple in three months, Briefing Notes, 2 October 2012, Available at http://www.unhcr.org/cgibin/texis/vtx/search?page = search&docid = 506ac00c9&query = syrian%20refugees (accessed 9 September 2013).

^36.Global Humanitarian Assistance Report 2013, p. 4, Available at http://www.globalhumanitarianassistance.org/report/4216 (accessed 9 September 2013).

^37. UN comtrade statisticsAvailable at http://comtrade.un.org/db/dqBasicQueryResults.aspx?px = H4&cc = TOTAL&r = 792&p = 760&rg = 2&y = 2012&so = 8 (accessed 29 December 2013).