The Role of Symbolic Power in the Foreign Relations of Turkey and Central Asia

The Central Asian region is one of the areas that, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, has been competing and influenced by regional powers, especially Turkey. Over the past two decades, Turkey has begun a massive effort to strengthen its Central Asian region through its cultural, social and economic ties. Accordingly, this article, considering the role of economic, social, cultural and symbolic capital in consolidating power, focuses on the use of symbols by Turkish political elites in expanding foreign relations with Central Asia. The question for the authors of this article is how have Turkey's political elites managed to consolidate their symbolic power over the Central Asian region? To answer this question, we used Pierre Bourdieu, a French sociologist's theory of symbolic language and power, and suggested the theoretical basis of the paper on this basis. The hypothesis of the article is that the political elites of Turkey used their cultural, economic, social and symbolic capital to increase their influence in Central Asia. Therefore, the recognition of symbolic power and its application in Turkish foreign policy since 2002 in Central Asia is the main objective of this paper. The research findings show that Turkey is seeking to expand its influence in the Central Asian region with its economic, social, cultural and symbolic capital. In this paper, a qualitative research method has been used and the method of data collection has been done by documentary method.