Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan may have won the most grueling election race yet, seeing him compete in the second round before seeing off his rival. But the vote, last month, may signal more of the same policies by Turkey in the Horn and East African region, observers say, signaling some form of growth in trade and security support for the countries.
Mr Erdogan became the highest ranked Turkish official to visit Somalia in nearly 30 years after he, as prime minister, travelled to Mogadishu at the height of one of the worst refugee crises, in 2011. Since then, he has visited every Horn of Africa country, except Eritrea, and toured 31 African countries overall.
Somalia President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud was among African leaders present in a ceremony for the inauguration of President Erdogan a week ago.
“I wish Turkey continue supporting the stability and development of its brotherly countries,” the Somali leader stated.
Prof Peter Kagwanja, CEO of the Africa Policy Institute, a think-tank in Nairobi told The EastAfrican that Erdogan is motivated by both the intent to market his name and that of the country.
“Erdogan is a nationalist but he has also carried with him a historic shadow, a desire to recreate the Turkish empire of the Ataturk times,” he said, referring to the founder of the Republic of Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who was president between 1923 and 1938.
Ataturk turned his country into a modern industrialised secular state, abandoning the old policies of the Ottoman Empire.
Last week, he appointed spy chief Hakan Fidan as the new Foreign Minister, replacing Mevlut Cavusoglu. Fidan is also an international relations scholar but was more known as a spy chief after serving as the Director-General of the Turkish national intelligence agency for 13 years.
Bigger powers
Prof Kagwanja thinks Turkey’s rise into the Horn, and Africa, in general is due to “gaps” created by the bigger powers.
“Turkey, like Middle East powers, such as Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar, have come into the Horn to fill these spaces.
“We expect a lot more of Turkish role in the regional security issues. Some of the recent wars like that in Tigray in Ethiopia, and now Sudan, have been fuelled partly by Turkish technology. That will be more pronounced in future,” he said referring to drones and other military tech he says may have arrived on scene in the Horn, indirectly.
But security isn’t the only focus. One thing about Turkey is the longevity of its diplomats. For example, Mr Mevlut Cavusoglu served as Foreign Minister from 2015 to 2023, giving his country an institutional memory to grow ties.
“Türkiye attaches importance to opening diplomatic missions in all African countries, in order to enhance its relations with the Continent. While the number of our Embassies in Africa was only 12 in 2002, it increased to 44 as of 2022,” says a statement on the Turkish Foreign Ministry website, calling the country as it is formally known.
In 2015, Erdogan inaugurated and officially announced open a modern terminal built for Mogadishu’s Aden Abdulle International Airport.
Indeed, President Erdogan returned to the Somali capital in 2016 to open an embassy, the largest Turkish diplomatic mission in the world.
The Turkish Development Agency (TIKA) has since put-up Erdogan Medical Training and Research Hospital and erected several other aid projects.
The Sea Port of Mogadishu managed by the Turkish company Al-Bayrak and the city’s airport administered by another.
In December last year, Somalia Investment Promotion Office (SOMINVET) organised the 1st Somalia International Investment Conference (SIICO). The high-profile invitees included the Turkish Ambassador to Somalia Mahmet Yilmaz who described the importance and economic and trade cooperation between Somalia and Turkey (TEPA).
Addressing a large audience that included Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, Yilmaz said, “Once TEPA reaches a full implementation stage, offering opportunities to mutually benefit from local resources such as livestock, agriculture and fishery resources, the scheme will boost economic growth, employment creation leading to enhanced trade and investment in both countries.”
In general, there are 38 African diplomatic missions in Ankara, up from ten in 2008. Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia are some of the countries to have opened embassies in Ankara in this period.
Rapid growth rate
Besides embassies, however, Turkey plays its relations through institutions such as the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency, the Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency, Yunus Emre Institute, the Turkish Maarif Foundation, the Turkish Religious Foundation, Anadolu (media) Agency and Turkish Airlines.
And it cited rapid growth rate as “one of the most concrete indicators of our strengthening relations.” Trade volume with the Africa increased from $5.4 billion in 2003 to $34.5 billion in 2021.
Turkey says it has undertaken projects worth $77.8 billion in Africa and established joint business councils with 45 African countries in the past ten years.
According to the Turkish Foreign Ministry projection, it will have direct flights with every African country in the next ten years, seeking to facilitate business and “turn our country into an intersection point for the African people to access to the world and to strengthen the ties between our people.”
Turkish Airlines flew to 39 countries before the pandemic. The initial plan is to resume all those destinations. But Turkey is also giving scholarships to African students every year.
By end of 2022, more than 15,000 African students had earned graduate, post-graduate and doctorate scholarships since 1992. It has also trained at least 249 diplomats from the African countries under its International Junior Diplomats Training Programme, an annual training programme launched in 1992.
