Özet:

An undisputed development in International Relations occurred in diplomacy. With the 21st century state-to-state diplomacy was diluted with the inclusion of several actors. In addition to state agencies and business circles, human and societal elements also became active actors of diplomacy. Therefore diplomatic actions in order to be successful need to cover many segments of social life in addition to politico-economic aspects. Turkish foreign policy, more clearly with Justice and Development Party (AKP) underwent through several changes. The most obvious one was its spurred proactivity. In contrast with the preliminary concerns, these changes, which were named by several analysts as neo-Ottomanism, did not tear off Turkey’s relations with its historical and strategic allies, i.e. the US and the EU. Yet, they gave Turkish foreign policy an expanded focus and an extended outreach. This proactivity did not only operate via economy or diplomacy but also merged with the cultural heritage of Ottoman Empire and its commonalities shared by several countries in Turkey’s very and far away neighborhoods. Although AKP’s proactivity was more heavily felt in the Middle East, its waves hit Asia-Pacific as well. This article aims to elaborate how much of a contribution these cultural commonalities could/could have provided to AKP elites’ diplomatic aims. Bangladesh in this sense is an important example since it was not a well-elaborated example in the literature and also depicts how quickly these commonalities could heal impaired bilateral relations with Turkey

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