The power of the state on the regional and international political stage no longer resides only in material strength, whether military or economic, which has been the standard for decades. Rather, it transcends it to other components, the most important of which is “popular power”, not only in terms of the population or the proportion of youth. On the one hand, it is the rise in the state of popular awareness, and the popular ability to influence the political level.
After the period of the Arab Spring and the state of change in the region, not in terms of changing the regimes, but in terms of the high level of popular political awareness and the awareness of everything that is happening around it, and the emergence of the popular factor as an active and influential factor at the political level, supported by social media sites, which have become an influential factor in many issues, after the role of traditional media has been greatly reduced, so that the influence and popular power have become an effective factor in international relations concepts and a major element in the tools of soft power.
The popular campaign on the social networking site “Twitter” to boycott Turkish products is an extension of the campaign to boycott Turkish tourism, which has succeeded in reducing the number of tourists to Turkey. For example, the number of Saudi tourists to Turkey decreased in August by 28%, and Emiratis by 28%. 15% in 2019, and therefore the success achieved in the Turkish tourism boycott is an important catalyst in the way of completing the process of activating “popular pressure tools” in the face of Turkish hostile policies.
Consequently, the popular boycott campaigns that have emerged on the scene in recent times targeting “Turkish products”, which have greatly affected the Turkish economy, and that resulted in the recognition by Turkish companies of the damage they have suffered, are undoubtedly an example of the importance of the popular ability to influence the regional political theater, which can be relied upon to force some countries to correct their political path and abandon the anarchic and hostile ideologies that drive their foreign policies, such as Turkey.
The continuation of the “popular campaign to boycott Turkish products” means tightening the screws on Turkish expansion in foreign markets, which will have an impact on the volume of Turkish foreign trade, especially towards the Arab region, which is in a state of high public awareness towards Turkish hostile policies, which will have major repercussions on the Turkish economy, which is in a state of collapse.
