Türkiye’s Efforts to Combat Islamophobia: Responses, Motivations, and Challenges

This paper explores Türkiye’s responses, motivations, and challenges in the process of combating Islamophobia. From the Turkish perspective, Islamophobia has exerted historical and contemporary negative impacts on Türkiye. In response, Türkiye takes steps from two dimensions of reality and perception. At the practical level, Türkiye employs a combination of bilateral diplomacy, multilateral diplomacy, and foreign propaganda. At the spiritual level, Türkiye emphasizes its national image and soft power. As a Muslim country, Türkiye’s efforts to combat Islamophobia highlight the factors of Türkiye’s national interests, the moderate Islamic attributes of the Justice and Development Party, and the historical and cultural traditions of Islam. In the fight against Islamophobia, Türkiye also faces numerous challenges, including the intricacy of Islamophobia, the entrenchment of stereotypes, the obstruction from other Islamic countries, and the rise of right-wing populism in Europe. The Global Civilization Initiative proposed by China may become another potential alternative to addressing Islamophobia.

Keywords: civilization, clash of civilizations, Global Civilization Initiative, Islamophobia, Türkiye.