The Hizmet Movement as a softpower tool in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq:
between foreign policy and domestic politics
This presentation is an attempt to understand the articulation and interdependency existing between soft power and domestic politics. Our main hypothesis is that important interdependency links exist between domestic policies implemented on the state’s own territory and the soft power’s policy, especially in a context of strong transnational dynamics. In order to verify this hypothesis, we will study the role played by the Hizmet movement, and more specifically by the Fezalar schools, in the shaping of Turkish foreign policy towards the Autonomous Region of Iraqi Kurdistan. Indeed the evolution of Turkish foreign policy towards Iraqi Kurdistan determines the implantation of the movement. Besides, the Kurdish issue in Turkey is of great importance in understanding the implantation of the Hizmet movement in Kurdish populated areas on the two sides of the border. Beyond the issue of the eventual positive repercussion on Turkish soft power, it seems that the policy of the movement is participating to the increasing transnational dynamics of the region and contributes in this sense to blur the limits between foreign and domestic policies.