Bir Yumuşak Güç Unsuru Olarak Türk Medeni Kanunu: Erken Cumhuriyet Döneminde Dış Politika ve Uluslararası İmaj

This study examines the adoption of the Turkish Civil Code of 1926 within the framework of the early Republican period’s foreign policy orientation, its pursuit of international legitimacy and its construction of a modern state image. It argues that the Civil Code operated as a strategic instrument that helped Türkiye to be perceived within the international system as a modern and secular state aligned with the European legal tradition. Drawing on Joseph Nye’s conceptualisation of soft power and Simon Anholt’s notion of competitive identity, the Code is treated as a field of reform that produced international image through institutional modernisation. Once the capitulations were abolished by the Treaty of Lausanne, sustaining the newly acquired status of a sovereign and equal state required uniform, secular and predictable institutions at home. The reception of the Swiss Civil Code accelerated the transition from a plural, community-based legal order to legal unity grounded in citizenship. The secularisation of family law and the strengthened civil status of women made the Republic’s claim to modernity visible at home and abroad alike. Employing qualitative document analysis, the study draws on official texts, historical sources, scholarly literature and coverage in The New York Times.