Turkey: Master of Public Diplomacy

Sabina Freizer, International Crisis Group | October 20, 2009

Armenia and Azerbaijan have some lessons to learn from the Turkish-Armenian reconciliation, where the employment of soft power and public diplomacy created the enabling environment for the signing of bilateral protocols. ++ Although Azerbaijani President İlham Aliyev and Armenian president Sarskyan support a resolution, they struggle to ‘sell' it to their citizens. ++ Turkey should assist its Azerbaijani and Armenian cousins to break down negative perceptions by stopping the demonization of ‘the other' and restoring dialogue.