Mediation as foreign policy, the case of Turkey Guest: Spyros Sofos

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Turkey's mediator role seems to have started in the Balkans in the 1990s. Thanks to its cultural affinities with the region, its military officers stationed there were asked to serve as mediators in local communities. Later, as a kin-state, this expanded to CIS countries and to its neighbors. Seen more as an honest broker and free from colonial baggage, it developed in Africa in Somalia, Somaliland and Sudan. This created a huge human capital and expertise in its diplomats, cultural officers, state sponsored NGOs and various personnel. Meanwhile, it demonstrated that mediation can also be initiated in international affairs bottom up, with the request of local communities based on historical and cultural ties. Lately, this role seems to have evolved to a more personalistic approach to mediation. Lacking the core elements such as participation and inclusion, this did not yield results like before. Yet, the human capital and experience is there. In this episodes, scholar Spyros Sofos shared his research findings about the subject based on interviews with many officials that were involved in the process.