Social media and Turkish foreign policy: Turkish foregin policy perceptions through Kobane tweets/Sosyal medya ve Turk dis politikasi: Kobani tweetleri uzerinden Turk dis politikasi algisi

Recent technological advances enabling quick and effective dissemination of information on social media have made perceptions and attitudes of an electorate towards policy actions more sensitive. This sensitivity shapes the link between domestic and foreign policies, especially in democracies. During the past fifteen years, foreign and domestic policy nexus in Turkey has become more prominent and critical; thus scholarly focus on this has increased. This study contributes to the literature by examining the public opinion-foreign policy nexus using new methodology. It employs an algorithm, which groups tweets in Turkish with similar "sentiments." With this, the study addresses two recently popular topics in Turkish political studies, i.e., foreign-domestic policy linkage and the role of social media in Turkish politics, via recent siege of Kobane, Syria. The findings show that arising perceptions and attitudes in Twitter are organized over political party/ideological stance dimensions. Keywords: Turkey, Kobane, Syria, Foreign Policy, Twitter, Public Opinion, Social Media Gelisen teknolojinin haber ve bilgi paylasimini hizli ve etkin hale getirmesi secmen kitlelerinin algi ve tutumlarini, karar alicilarin politikalarina karsi daha hassas hale getirmistir. Bu hassasiyet ozellikle demokrasilerde belirginlesen ic ve dis politika arasindaki baglantiyi farkli bir boyuta tasimistir. Son on bes yilda Turk dis politikasinin ic siyaset ile bagintisi daha gorunur ve onemli hale gelmis; bu surecte dis politika yapiminda kamuoyu algi ve tutumlarinin artan onemi akademik calismalara yansimistir. Bu calisma, bireylerin Turk dis politikasina iliskin algi ve tutumlarini inceleyen yazina katkida bulunmayi amaclamakta, bunun icin Twitter'da paylasilan Turkce metinlerin benzer "hissiyatta" olanlarini gruplamayi mumkun kilan bir bilgisayar algoritmasi kullanmaktadir. Bu calisma ile Turkiye siyasi arastirmalarindaki en guncel konulardan ikisi, yani ic-dis politika baglantisi ile siyasette sosyal medyanin rolu, iliskilendirilmektedir. Inceleme ile, yakin donemde Turk dis politikasini mesgul eden Kobani konusunda Twitter'da olusan algi ve tutumlarin parti/ideolojik aidiyet duzlemi uzerinden orgutlendigini gostermistir. Anahtar Kelimeler: Turkiye, Kobani, Suriye, Dis Politika, Twitter, Kamuoyu, Sosyal Medya.