TIKA's impact on turkey-ukraine relations

Abstract

After World War II, relationship definition between states started to change; during bipolar system-based world, interdependence started to be crowned between states. Meanwhile, thanks to ‘the Marshall Plan’ implemented by US, showed ‘foreign aid’ concept would be a tool for diplomacy to states. At that time on, very first steps of ‘foreign aids’ as a concept used as direct financing application by developed countries to underdeveloped or developing countries. After years, ‘foreign aids’ concept got evolved and got diversified, in terms of content and the number of aid providing countries. After dissolution of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), new foreign policy opportunities aroused for Turkey; those newly independent Turkic states provided a foreign policy destination for Turkey. Thus, Turkey founded TIKA, in order to claim this opportunity through providing technical assistance primarily to those newly independent Turkic states of the Central Asian and South Caucasian Turkic states via TIKA. Later on, in line with the developments both in domestic politics and in the international arena, Turkish foreign aid started to reach other countries in different parts of the world. Undoubtedly, it is clear that TIKA’s uniqueness and its having a pivotal role in Turkish Foreign Policy braced up from the ‘Soft Power’ concept. In this paper, its aimed to review TIKA’s activities in Ukraine and its impact on Turkey-Ukraine relations.