Africa (Commonwealth) _With anti-interventionist sentiment growing in Mali and recent political unrest in Niger, Francophone African countries appear to be shedding their French colonial legacy.
France, once a significant player, today has a fast disappearing imprint on the continent, with little possibilities for its return. This hole provides an opportunity for the West’s foes, notably China, Russia, and Iran, which are taking a more active role in Africa.
Turkey’s African foreign policy is based on a careful balance of soft and strong force. On the one hand, since the late 1990s, Turkey’s cultural and political connection with Africa has been an important feature of Ankara’s foreign policy. According to Elif omolu Ülgen, general director of Eastern and Southern Africa at the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the political-cultural opening to the continent gained momentum with the proliferation of Turkish embassies across Africa and the expansion of Turkish Airlines’ flight network, which connects Ankara to many African capital cities.
With Ankara’s “Year of Africa” strategy in 2005, Turkey’s strategic opening to Africa, and Turkey-Africa ties in general, garnered prominence. According to the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the effort paved the door for stronger political and economic connections with African countries, including commercial cooperation agreements The Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency launched its first office in Africa that year; it now has over twenty offices throughout the continent, undertaking culture and development initiatives. Turkey has negotiated free trade treaties with five African countries during the previous few decades: Morocco, Tunisia, Mauritius, Sudan, and Egypt. Between 1980 and 2017, the amount of commerce between Turkey and various African nations increased considerably.
Thousands of African students are now studying at Turkish colleges or within the Turkish Cypriot community thanks to Turkish scholarships. Furthermore, Turkey’s Maarif schools educate around 20,000 pupils in twenty-four African nations in Turkish.
In addition to soft power, Turkey has used hard power—in the form of expanding defense diplomacy and military capacity building—to engage with other African countries. Turkish firms have supplied armored vehicles to African countries, and the Turkish government has also provided such vehicles to several of these countries. With the assistance of these Turkish armored vehicles, troops in Kenya, Chad, and Somalia are chasing terrorist organizations.
Furthermore, Turkish drones fly over the African continent. A growing number of African countries, notably Niger and Ethiopia, are using Turkish unmanned aerial aircraft to perform precision attacks and gather intelligence on terrorist targets.
In addition to providing high-end Turkish weaponry equipment to the Somali Armed Forces, Turkey created Camp TURKSOM in Mogadishu in 2017 to train Somalia’s troops.
Aside from its engagement in counterterrorism and capacity-building activities in Africa, Ankara’s posture in recent regional issues varies from that of many other NATO members. During the current political unrest in Niger, while several nations shut off or threatened to cut off humanitarian help, Turkey abstained from making dramatic accusations. Later, Erdoan reiterated his opposition to military action in Niger and expressed optimism that the nation would soon achieve constitutional order and democratic administration. This noninterventionist stance appears to be closely linked to Ankara’s strategic goal of establishing a long-term relationship with Niger—and possibly ensuring the continuation of military-security cooperation deals signed between Ankara and Niamey (which include the possibility of opening a military base in Niger) and Ankara’s investments in the country are dependent on Niger’s stability.
Moving forward, the actions of NATO partners in Africa will have a significant impact on the continent’s geopolitical direction. As Western capitals are being pressed to rethink their Africa strategy, Ankara’s approach—based on a delicate combination of hard and soft power, capacity building, noninterventionism, and mutual cooperation—can serve as a model. And, while that process is happening, Turkey, whose political-military links to the continent are solid, may assist offset NATO’s strategic competitors’ rising reach.
