New York times reports on Turkey exercising "soft power" in Iraq

Turkey, resurgent as at any time since its Ottoman glory, is projecting influence through a turbulent Iraq in a show of "soft power" that illustrates its growing heft across the Arab world, reported The New York Times yesterday. "While the United States invaded and occupied Iraq ... Turkey now exerts what may prove a more lasting legacy – so-called soft power, the assertion of influence through culture, education and business," said the article. "Just as the Justice and Development Party [AK Party] of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has reoriented politics in Turkey, it is doing so in Iraq, with repercussions for the rest of the region," it added.