The Impact of Regional and Global Events on Turkey’s “Soft Power” Strategy in Central Asia (2002–2025)

This article examines the evolution of the Turkish Republic’s “soft power” strategy in Central Asia from 2002 to 2025. The article analyzes the dialectical contradiction between Ankara’s ambitious pan-Turkist goals and the pragmatic adjustments of its foreign policy caused by the influence of key regional and global events. The author limits the geographic scope of the study to five post-Soviet republics (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan), examining them as a single historical and political cluster. The paper raises the problem of the gap between the declared strategic objectives and the real tactical capabilities of Turkey, limited by factors such as the Arab Spring, the Syrian crisis, the strengthening of the positions of Russia and China in the region, as well as global geopolitical shifts after 2022. Based on the analysis of specific stages and instruments of Turkish policy, it is concluded that the strategy was forced to transform from an idealistic “big brother” model to a more pragmatic role of a transport, logistics and military-technical partner, which was a response to the changing international situation.