Erdogan seeks to expand his influence in Africa – archyworldys

About fifteen tours in as many years, thirty countries visited at the end of the visit which began on Sunday, October 17: Recep Tayyip Erdogan returns to the African continent with constantly growing ambitions. Two months before the third Turkey-Africa summit to be held in Istanbul in December, the head of state is on a three-day trip to take him to Angola, Togo and Nigeria. The partnership with this continent is “Strategic” for his country, he said.

If Ankara has for a time considered its relationship with Africa from a primarily commercial perspective, driven by an argument that hits the mark: “Cheaper than European products and of better quality than Chinese”, the perspectives have since widened to the security field. As reported in the specialized letter Africa Intelligence, a large delegation from Savunma Sanayii Baskanlıgı, the agency that drives the Turkish military industry, is on the trip. “Turkey is now displaying a real policy of complete power where the soft power installed by commerce, Islamic culture and NGOs is coupled with hard power with the sale of armaments ”, analyzes Dorothée Schmid, the Middle East program manager at the French Institute of International Relations (IFRI).

Mr. Erdogan’s first stop in Angola should have a strong economic tone. Ankara’s announced objective is to increase bilateral trade with this country from 176 million to 500 million dollars (from 152 million to 431 million euros) annually. The recent opening of the Luanda-Istanbul link by Turkish Airlines should contribute to this: the airline which now serves nearly sixty African destinations is an effective tool of influence.

Support the Gülenist movement

Beyond its oil wealth, Angola is also a regional power on which Turkey can rely to assert its ambitions in Central Africa, especially in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Recep Tayyip Erdogan met the President of the DRC, Félix Tshisekedi, in September, in particular to thank him for his involvement in the fight against the movement of the preacher Fethullah Gülen.

Since the failed coup of July 2016, the Turkish power has continued to hunt down the networks and relatives of its former mentor. And the African continent – where the latter was for a time a vanguard of Turkish interests with its quality schools, businessmen and diplomats – is no exception to this international hunt. In May, Fethullah Gülen’s nephew was “Kidnapped” in Kenya according to his family.

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