THE BALKANS FROM THE OTTOMANS TO THE PRESENT: CULTURAL DIPLOMACY DISCOURSES OF TRT DOCUMENTARY

Abstract

Cultural diplomacy is supported by the government to promote national interests. Thus, it plays an instrumental role in cultural diplomacy. In other words, culture is used as a source, of symbolic capital, and a source of soft power. Cultural diplomacy provides state actors with an appropriate starting point, by demonstrating cultural policy internationally. The most common source of soft power is culture, and it covers cultural literature, art, education, and popular culture called the mass pastime of today. Thus cultural diplomacy, which takes on a significant responsibility in building national identity and in the process of representation, contributes to the development and maintenance of modernity. This study discusses the contribution of cultural documentaries to the formation of image and reputation. This study aims to reveal the cultural diplomacy discourses in the documentaries made by TRT Belgesel. This study is also essential to reveal the discourses on cultural diplomacy activities in Balkan countries. Bosnia-Herzegovina, Moldova, and Macedonia sections of the Traces and Lines documentary have been analyzed by discourse and content analysis methods in the Maxqda program. The analysis's findings are as follows: country promotion, Graffiti art, and TIKA activities. Explanations of cultural diplomacy are classified as traces of Turkish culture, the feeling, and cultural affinity, and the institutions opened by TIKA in these geographies, restoration activities, and donations. In documentaries, macro-discourse topics in terms of culture diplomacy include country promotions, Graffiti art, and TIKA activities. The country's religious structure and history are included in its promotion. The history of the country is associated with the Ottoman Empire's investments in the Balkans and with the cultural characteristics of the Turks living in those regions. Documentaries include the art of graffiti and the position of this art to reflect the cultural characteristics of countries. Artists emphasize the efforts of Turks living in the Balkans to maintain cultural values and the awareness to preserve the national values that thereby occur. In terms of micro-discourse, the documentaries include we, our, our Turks, and Türkiye words. Sentences are used in a simple structure, a simple language. Strategies for providing historical reference and exploiting personal experience in the documentary are persuasive. As a result; It creates discourses that will contribute positively to the image and reputation of the country by including cultural heritage protection and cultural diplomacy tools in the cultural documentaries of TRT Belgesel.