Deepen cooperation between Turkey and Africa. This is the announced objective of the Türkiye-Africa Partnership ministerial conference, organized in Djibouti this weekend. The Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hakan Fidan, is present in the Horn of Africa where Turkish mediation is already very active between Ethiopia and Somalia, with currently very tense relations. It will also be an opportunity to talk about the economy, as Turkey increases investments on the continent.
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This Partnership, which was launched in 2008 by the Ankara authorities, now includes 14 allied African countries.
The Horn of Africa, strategic for Turkey
The choice of Djibouti as the location of the meeting, “ first responds to a desire to alternate the geographies of these encounters, micro analysis of Pierre Firtion from the Africa editorial team Elisa Dominguez Dos Santos, associate researcher at IFRI who works on Türkiye-Africa relations. Afterwards, from a bilateral point of view, it is not entirely surprising since the relationship is quite developed between Turkey and Djibouti. It is in particular with the countries of the Horn that Turkey has particularly close relations: the Horn of Africa is a region which now concentrates important commercial interests for Turkey, but also strategic and security interests since the Horn of Africa borders the Red Sea, but also the Indian Ocean and that it has become a particularly strategic region, not only for Turkey, but for many external actors who have interests there. »
Opposed to Western sanctions against regimes that came to power after a coup d’état in Africa, Turkey has in recent months become a partner of choice for the Sahel states. Thus, Ankara has just concluded this week a cooperation agreement with Niger in the strategic mining sector. The Turkish Mineral Research and Exploration Authority (MTA) will initially operate three gold deposits with an expected entry into production by the end of the year. An agreement had already been signed this summer in Niamey with the junta to develop Niger’s oil and gas potential.
A sector where Turkey stood out last week with thesending an exploration ship off the coast of Somalia. The Turkish national oil company has obtained the right to explore three offshore areas covering an area of 15,000 km². This country in the Horn was the laboratory of Turkish cooperation on the continent, where for twenty years Turkish companies have been building airports, hospitals, stadiums, schools and railways, with a recent contract worth 6.5 billion dollars in Namibia. A showcase of this cooperation, Turkish Airlines today serves more than 60 African destinations.
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Thriving security cooperation
Turkey has also become the 4th supplier of arms to sub-Saharan African countries, in particular drones, helicopters and armored vehicles. Cooperation agreements have been signed with 25 African countries. Military cooperation that the new Senegalese president Bassirou Diomaye Faye called for strengthening during her visit to Ankara this week. “ West Africa is a region dominated by security concerns » noted Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye on Thursday, received by Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara, adding “ that it was necessary to strengthen cooperation in the field of defense », reports Agence France presse.
Also readTurkey begins mediation to ease relations between Ethiopia and Somalia