Review of international relations • 14(3) • 2021

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MGIMO REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS • 14(3) • 2021
and restricts the activities of an external actor in this area (Safranchuk 2019). In recent 
years, China's military effectiveness in Central Asia also has increased. Although not 
yet officially confirmed, there are claims that China has a military base in Tajikistan
7
. 
Turkey's Soft Power
Turkey's soft power in Central Asia has been historically based on religious, lin-
guistic, and cultural elements. Turkey uses them to establish governmental organiza-
tions and educational institutions, promote the Turkish press, and broadcast media 
in Central Asia. With this regard, Turkey's cultural influence in Central Asia remains 
strong, and this is mainly due to the state policy of those Central Asian ruling elites 
who want to distance themselves from Russia (Malysheva 2017). 
Turkey's soft power policies in Central Asia have developed in several areas. For 
this purpose, during the 1990s, the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency 
(TIKA) and the International Organisation of Turkic Culture (TURKSOY) were es-
tablished. TIKA has 57 branches all over the world. Five of them operate in the capitals 
of all Central Asian states
8
. TURKSOY is a multilateral cultural organization consist-
ing of 6 members of the Central Asian republics, Azerbaijan and Turkey
9
. In 2007, 
Yunus Emre Institute was also founded as a governmental organization for contrib-
uting to Turkey's soft power politics. The mission of the Yunus Emre Institute is to 
introduce the Turkish language, culture, and art to the world. It has branches in 58 
countries around the world. In Central Asia, there is only one branch in the Nursultan, 
the capital of Kazakhstan
10
. Another institution operating in this field is the Presi-
dency of Turks Abroad and Related Communities (YTB), established in 2010
11
. Under 
The 'Great Student Project,' from 1992 to 2012, the Presidency allocated some 22.000 
quotas to the Central Asian republics, and 15.248 of them reached their recipients 
(Aydin 2013). Unfortunately, this project was not successful, and it was renamed in 
2012 under the umbrella of YTB as 'the Turkey scholarship.' From 2013 to 2019 (see 
Table 2), the number of students studying in Turkey increased from 10,023 to 23,423. 
Besides, the Turkish universities and educational institutions continue their activities 
in Central Asia. These universities are Ahmet Yesevi University in Kazakhstan (1991), 
Süleyman Demirel University (1996), the Kyrgyz Manas University of Turkey in Kyr-
gyzstan (1995). The TOBB University of Economics and Technology in Ankara has 
also opened a branch in Tashkent for Uzbek students who will study in it during the 
2020 – 2021 academic year. 
7
Tajikistan: Secret Chinese base becomes slightly less secret. 
EurasiaNet. 
September 23, 2020. URL: https://eurasianet.
org/tajikistan-secret-chinese-base-becomes-slightly-less-secret (accessed 10.06.2021)
8
TİKA Official Website.
URL: https://www.tika.gov.tr/en (accessed 10.06.2021)
9
TURKSOY, Official Website.
URL: https://www.turksoy.org/ru (accessed 10.06.2021)
10
Yunus Emre Enstitüsü. 
Nursultan
. URL: https://nur-sultan.yee.org.tr (accessed 10.06.2021)
11
T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı. 
Yurtdışı Türkler ve Akraba Topluluklar Başkanlığı. 
The Official Website. URL: https://www.
ytb.gov.tr/kurumsal/baskanligimiz-2 (accessed 10.06.2021)

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А.Э. Суджу, К.И. Искандаров, Р.Б. Махмудов, Д.Н. Чернов
ИССЛЕДОВАТЕЛЬСКИЕ СТАТЬИ