The rising role of businessmen in Turkish Foreign policy: case of Turkey’s influence in Iraqi Kurdish Regional Government’s State Building process

Despite political taboos in Turkish Foreign Policy towards the formation of a Kurdish state in the Middle East Turkey adopted a particular position when Iraqi Kurds started the Kurdish State building process in 2005 when the new Iraqi Constitution was proclaimed. Since the recognition of the Iraqi Constitution that gave to the Kurds not only political autonomy but also economic independence, Turkey has become the main actor in the State Building process of the Kurdish autonomous region. Businessmen form Turkey, Turks and Kurds, are contributing to the physical infrastructure of this quasi state. Turkey is involved in the KRG’s State Building process through the activities of businessmen who built a bridge between Turkey and the KRG and they have given rise to bilateral political relations. They are building bridges, highways, airports, universities in Iraqi Kurdistan and the Turkish language is gradually becoming the dominant language of the shops’ boards, of the “business” in general. Furthermore, the majority of the food and any other type of product are exported from Turkey. Indeed, Iraq quickly became the fourth economic partner of Turkey: Turkish-Iraqi trade reaches over $ 7 billion and according to the Turkish consulate’s statistics in Erbil, 65% of this trade is concretely with the KRG. The role that these businessmen play in Turkey’s implication in the State formation process of the KRG illustrates the status of the economic interdependence in Turkey’s foreign policy and shows how the state applies itself to economic activity in order to attain its foreign policy objectives. Their activities furnish solid empirical data to further analyze Turkey’s regional policy as a Trading State, to show how the economy and the economic stakeholders are mobilized in the politics of a state vis-à-vis their “new” neighbour with whom security conflicts are not yet resolved. In other words Turkey’s position towards the Kurdish state formation is an explicative example to the use of the soft power as a central tool in Foreign Policy. All these elements confirms that Turkish state uses business activities as a strategic tool of its soft power in the region, but their activities also allow one to explain how the businessmen are able to influence the politics of the state while shielded from an emerging neighbour state, in order to guarantee the survival and the continuation of their business, in other terms, how they impose themselves in the decision-making process of foreign policy. The particular case of Kurdish businessmen from Turkey who were a relatively marginalized group because of their appurtenance to an ethnic minority, gain a new status towards the state. The will of Turkish foreign policy makers to enforce the soft power through the economic activities has a parallel consequence on a particular group of actor. This phenomena needs to be explained in the general context of the Turkey’s position in world politics. This paper aims to show through the case of Turkey’s Kurdish businessmen in KRG how the concept of soft power gains a larger definition, beyond the state’s one, and becomes also a tool for non state actors to enlarge their influence in politics.