Turkish engagement with the continent, the African Institute for Policy Studies of the Federal Republic of Germany notes, is based on economic development, military co-operation, humanitarian aid, cultural and religious ties, and the training of African personnel.

Given the recent economic complications, Ankara’s main efforts in Africa are aimed at developing trade relations with the continent in order to gain access to new markets for its products, as well as to energy and mineral resources.

But the growth of Turkey’s trade turnover with African countries, especially French-speaking ones, is causing serious concern in Paris, according to the French publication Orient XXI, even if it is still small in absolute terms. Over the past 20 years, it has grown from $5 billion in 2003 to $40.7 billion in 2023, according to the Turkish Trade Minister. At the last Turkey-Africa Economic Forum in 2021, Erdoğan said that “our goal is to increase trade with Africa first to $50 billion and then to $75 billion”.

Turkey’s biggest trading partners in Africa are Egypt, Algeria, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia. In sub-Saharan Africa, the largest importers of Turkish goods are South Africa, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire.

One of the most important areas of Turkish business abroad has traditionally been construction. Although this sector has long been monopolised by China in Africa, Turkish companies have made inroads.

Suffice it to say that in Senegal alone in 2018, they won contracts worth a total of 700 million euros, including the construction of the Dakar International Conference Centre, the Sports Palace, the Radisson Hotel and other facilities, as well as the management of the capital’s airport for 25 years.

In Niger, the value of infrastructure projects carried out by Turkish companies is estimated at $250 million, including a $154 million contract to build a new airport in the capital, Niamey. Overall, Turkish companies currently account for 21 per cent of construction work in Africa.

In addition to construction, Turkey is actively involved in the development of energy supply systems through the supply of floating power plants. The first such contract was signed with Ghana in 2014. Deliveries to Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Sudan, Gambia and Sierra Leone followed. Today, floating power........

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