Turkish Airlines: facilitating Türkiye's soft power in Africa

Türkiye, a re-emerging non-Western power, has intensified its relationship with Africa by strategically integrating soft power elements into its foreign policy. Unlike other actors, Türkiye assigned a special role to its national carrier, Turkish Airlines, in this endeavour. This article assesses Turkish Airlines' role as Türkiye's soft power actor in Africa, primarily as a facilitator and connectivity agent. It explores Türkiye's deployment of soft power tools and instruments to expand relations with Benin, Mauritania and Somalia, countries with recent significant increases in trade with Türkiye. We argue that Turkish Airlines' involvement as a soft power actor and facilitator of connectivity in these countries has significantly enhanced the effectiveness of various actors, contributing to achieving Türkiye's regional goals. As such, it serves to confirm and enrich soft power theory.