At the beginning of the 21st century, faced with serious delays in joining the EU, Turkey’s military and political leadership began to realise the need to fundamentally rethink its foreign policy priorities. It was within this paradigm that it began to view the African continent as a region where it could expand its presence and influence and find new partners to pursue an ambitious, independent foreign policy “without looking to the West”.

This vector of Ankara’s foreign policy became particularly clear after the Justice and Development Party led by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan came to power and based its foreign policy on the doctrine of “strategic depth” developed by Turkish politician Ahmet Davutoğlu. Its essence is that Turkey is supposedly destined to play an important role in world affairs due to its geostrategic position that allows it to project itself globally.

It should be added that after becoming head of state, the current president, inspired by the ideas of “neo-Ottomanism”, spoiled relations with all his neighbours and became disrespected in most countries of Europe and the Middle East. This was an important reason for Erdoğan to seek new partners on the African continent, where he pursued an assertive foreign policy, including one based on militant Islamism.

But an even more significant factor that made Ankara turn its attention to the Black Continent was the insistence of the “Anatolian Tigers”, Turkish export-oriented companies that played a leading role in the rise of the Turkish economy during the first decade of this century and are essentially the social base of the ruling party, to bring them to new markets for their products.

The priorities of the Turkish Foreign Ministry explicitly state that “relations with Africa are one of the key areas of foreign policy”. Ankara’s diplomatic presence on the continent has grown from 12 embassies in 2009 to 43 in 2021. It plans to increase the number to 50 in the coming years.

The importance of the Black Continent for Turkey can be illustrated by the fact that during his tenure as prime minister and then president, Erdoğan made more than 50 visits to African........

© New Eastern Outlook