“The Accra Complex will be a home for wisdom and knowledge.” When Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his sentence, averaging dozens of Ghanaians ’residents, addressing them enthusiastically, he was referring to the“ Ummah Mosque ”, which he visited during his tour in the Ghanaian capital, Accra, in March 1, 2016. And in front of the Great Mosque in West Africa, built by Turkish architects in the style of classic Ottoman architecture;
Erdogan took pictures next to some of the community’s citizens, with the Turkish and Ghanaian flags behind him.
Erdogan is next to some of the citizens of the Turkish community, and behind him the Turkish and Ghanaian flags
But at a time when this mosque that gave Accra a new Islamic landmark was being celebrated, fears were rising - especially in Europe - from the relative increase in the number of huge mosques built by the Turkish government in recent years on the continent, and because of the activity of Turkish institutions in support of many projects. Development and humanitarian efforts, as part of the efforts to develop the official Turkish policy of "opening up to Africa" that began in 2005, which seem logical in view of Europe's desire to continue France's control over the west of the continent and to ensure the dominance of major British companies over its south.
When talking about the growing Turkish presence in the west of the continent
The Turkish-French competition is coming to the fore, as the Turkish presence is disturbing to Paris, which seeks further expansion, especially since Turkish officials do not stop reminding it of its colonial legacy on the continent, at a time when it realizes that the Turkish presence in the region means a gradual and slow dismantling of its hegemony in the long run, where The Turks possess great power cards there, the most important of which is the common religious, cultural and historical background between them and most of the peoples of West African countries, as well as the growing economic cooperation between them, which makes the western part of the continent an important arena for Turkey to annoy the French and put pressure on them in other immediate international files, at the top of which is currently East. The Mediterranean and Libya.
Although the Turkish openness to Africa crystallized in 1998 when Ankara developed an approved plan of action to penetrate the continent, Erdogan's assumption of the premiership in 2003 was the most important stop for the official launch towards the African continent, and by the end of 2005, which was called the "Year of Africa" by the President The former British minister, "Tony Blair", Ankara was given a good opportunity by appointing it as an observer in the African Union, and the relationship between Ankara and most of the countries of the continent witnessed further rapprochement when the African Union announced that Turkey was a strategic partner in 2008, and by relying on this expanded network of relations, the The number of Turkish embassies in Africa from 12 in 2002 to 42 this year, and the number of trade cooperation councils increased from 6 to 46, and Turkish Airlines increased its flights to the countries of the continent from 4 to 60 flights.
At the beginning of its entry into the continent, Ankara focused on providing humanitarian aid and sponsoring development projects, on the one hand;
It opens a school in East Africa, and on the other hand it opens a hospital in its west, before it set out to strengthen economic exchange and bilateral trade relations with different African countries, as it started building airports and dams, and established service projects that Africans are very enthusiastic about because of their lack of this amount. The diversified Turkish exports to the continent gradually increased, including exports of steel, chemicals, chemical products, cars, clothes, agricultural products and various machinery.
In a country like Nigeria, which is Turkey's largest trading partner on the continent, bilateral trade in 2019 reached $ 2.3 billion, and while oil and liquefied natural gas accounted for 90% of Turkish imports from Nigeria, oilseeds, fruits, sesame, coal and cocoa made up most of Nigerian imports from Nigeria. Turkey, in addition to steel, furniture, building materials and some food products.
Later, Ankara gradually added military dimensions to its bilateral relations with African countries, and Erdogan took advantage of his numerous visits to the continent with the aim of promoting his country's defense industries, and urged different countries there to buy Turkish weapons and military products, chiefly the advanced drones, helicopters, warships and vehicles. The armored vehicle equipped with missile systems, howitzers and others, and the Turkish president was not only satisfied with that, but also included his country in the list of foreign countries that have military bases on African soil, so Turkey opened a military base in Somalia in 2017 to train local soldiers there.
As for West Africa specifically;
Ankara pursued a policy of soft incursion at the beginning before adding the military dimension to it. For example, Turkey signed a deal to explore for minerals in three fields in southwestern Niger in January 2020, then it did a few months later (July of the same year). By signing a cooperation agreement with the Nigerian government in the field of military training, to pave the way for its efforts to establish a military base there, which will definitely anger the French, given that any Turkish military presence in the geography of one of Libya's closest neighbors will enhance the influence of the Turks not only in the West, but also In the north where the Libyan conflict is, where the base will operate for a potential supply center for Turkey's activities in Libya, where the Turks can more quickly use it as a military warehouse for "weapons, soldiers, and surveillance systems" to send to Libya instead of sending them a longer distance from Turkish territory.
On September 10, 2020, a Turkish plane carrying the Turkish Foreign Minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, landed in the Republic of Mali, so that the Turkish minister was the first high-ranking foreign official to arrive in the country one month after the August 18 coup that toppled the former president, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, "Whereas the visit of" Ihsanoglu "coincided with the visit of US Secretary of State" Mike Pompeo "to Sudan as part of Washington's efforts to urge Khartoum at the time to accelerate the normalization of relations with Israel;
The Turkish minister's tour, which included other countries in West Africa such as "Guinea Bissau" and "Senegal", raised the ire of Ankara's opponents in the region, who considered the Turkish position a quick step to legitimize the financial coup, especially when Davutoglu met with members of the National Committee for the Salvation of the People. "Which was formed by the elements of the armed forces that carried out the coup, as well as the Turkish parliament's approval on the seventh of October to extend the mandate to participate in the United Nations mission and its operations in Mali and the Central African Republic for a new additional year.
The Turkish position calling for entering into a dialogue with the "transitional authority" in Mali represents a sharp conflict with the French position against this coup, which represented a heavy blow to France's military and intelligence operations in the African coast, despite the fact that strengthening economic and political relations in a country rich in natural resources may have A role in attracting the Turks quickly to move towards Mali, the Turkish position has been considered by the French as a challenge to them, in a country like Niger, for example, Turkey sought, as we mentioned above, to undermine the commercial dominance of the French nuclear energy company Areva in the field of mining, where the French own a 63% share Operating uranium mines there, and it has also begun to intensify traditional aid and relief diplomacy through a shipment of 6 tons of medical aid to counter "Covid-19" sent by Ankara to the country.
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- Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu (@MevlutCavusoglu) September 9, 2020
Paris considers, therefore, any Turkish move in West Africa as a threat capable of spoiling its economic and geopolitical interests there. In the former French colonies, Turkish influence is gradually expanding at a time when Paris is facing a great growth in anti-sentiments from the peoples of the five Sahel countries (Burkina Faso and Chad) Mali, Mauritania and Niger), and West Africa in general, mainly because of the French insistence on preserving the right to military and logistical intervention in the region under the pretext of what it describes as "combating terrorism". It has been leading the "Serval" operation since 2013 in Mali, and the "Barkhane" operation. “Since 2014 in the Sahel region.
Therefore, many Africans believe that the expansion and sustainability of the French military activity is matched by the almost inevitable continuation of corruption in the internal political classes of their countries, which contributes to the escalation of armed violence and exacerbates the security crisis that led to the loss of thousands of civilians in the escalating armed attacks, especially as violent groups operating There, the fight against the French and Western presence in general is used as a permanent pretext to continue.
With regard to the French presence in the west of the continent, it may seem at first glance that Paris, which seeks to increase its military influence there, is operating in the region in concert with the United States on the grounds that they are two powers involved in combating terrorism in West Africa, and because France depends primarily on American logistical and intelligence support, But what is happening on the ground shows that Paris prefers a strategy of unilateral action in the west of the continent even if this comes at the expense of reducing the possibility of its penetration there. The best example of this was what happened in July 2017 when the French presented a plan to the United Nations to create a regional African security force. In the Sahel, its strength was determined to number five thousand to form the forces of the G5 Sahel Force, as the French request at the time was surprising and angering the Americans who expected Paris to consult them about the plan.
However, this unilateral strategy was not, and is likely to be, not beneficial to the French, as their inability to resolve the security crisis in the coast and in the West alike, despite their military expansion (the French military presence increased from 4,500 to 5,100 soldiers in February 2020), where armed operations are increasing. Which those French forces provided to prevent it in the western countries, and its area began to expand in the region, in conjunction with the current American administration and the international community taking several measures to reduce their presence there, such as reducing the budget of the United Nations peacekeepers in the region, and reducing the number of American helicopters used for medical evacuation of troops American and friend injured in battle there.
In the end, the decline in American support has created an emerging trend towards establishing networks of influence there from new countries, which is currently benefiting Turkey, as well as some Gulf countries, but the Turkish efforts remain more effective and successive, as Ankara pledged to provide five million dollars in financial aid for efforts to "combat" Terrorism "carried out by the five coastal states bloc. It also signed its latest military agreement with Niger a few months ago, allowing bilateral cooperation from Libya to the West. It also sought to help Nigeria limit the flow of weapons to armed groups such as" Boko Haram "in the northeast of the country or Militants targeting Nigerian oil and gas facilities in the south, as joint "Turkish-Nigerian" gangs are using Turkish ports as channels for shipping weapons to Nigeria at a time when the Turkish authorities are trying to control this flow.
The joint Turkish-Nigerian gangs issue is one of the most important pillars of the French and some Western countries ’claim that Turkey’s policy in Africa" feeds terrorism ", at a time when Paris is looking at the Turkish incursion into the west of the continent, starting with investment in infrastructure projects, and ending with building military bases. And the establishment of intelligence networks there, as a process of building a Turkish military empire on the continent;
It also accuses Ankara of smuggling weapons across porous borders to support "Boko Haram" and Al Qaeda in the West, which is something for which no evidence has been established, while the current phenomena and movements indicate its likely opposite.
Boko Haram
Therefore, we can say that what is being raised about the "new Turkish colonization of West Africa" is something closer to being French propaganda than to the truth. While Ankara exports itself as a charitable force in support of the region, its ability to exercise its geopolitical influence in West Africa is still limited by the influence of the powers. The big firm established there until the moment despite its fluctuation at times, such as the United States, China and France. Indeed, the Turkish position vis-à-vis the modern powers over the region, such as Russia, also remains limited, as the Russians continue to work in full swing to strengthen military-technical cooperation with the countries of the West of the Continent, where Moscow signed more than An agreement aimed at strengthening cooperation in the field of military and security affairs there.
So, despite the relatively slow Turkish penetration, the continuing and radical French presence, and the modern Chinese and Russian interest in the region, the region appears as a pivot in a future conflict between Paris and Ankara, while the United States does not mind the increasing presence of Ankara, possibly as a counterweight to the growing Chinese influence as well. Tensions flare up between France on the one hand and Turkey on the other in North Africa, West Africa will become an important and decisive area of struggle to determine the new strongest player in the future in the upper half of the continent, the continent that experts consider is the next and most important place for the global political influence game.