Recep Tayyip Erdoğan goes to the African continent, stages planned in Angola, Nigeria and Togo
President Erdogan on a previous tour of Africa, here during his visit to Mozambique on January 24, 2017 (illustrative image).
REUTERS / Grant Lee Neuenburg
Text by: RFI Follow
1 min
The Turkish president begins, this Sunday, October 17, a visit to the African continent which lasts until Wednesday.
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is due in Angola today.
He will then go to Nigeria, then to Togo.
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For Jean Marcou, holder of the Mediterranean-Middle East chair at Sciences Po Grenoble, the tours regularly carried out in Africa by the president or senior Turkish officials show the place of the African continent in Turkey's foreign policy.
"
Annual visits
"
According to this specialist on Turkey, “for the
past ten years or so, we have observed it, almost annual visits by the Turkish head of state or high-level officials in Africa.
This actually shows the importance of Africa in Turkey's foreign policy for reasons that are strategic, economic and even military today.
"
A "new stadium"
"
What is quite interesting
," continues Mr. Marcou, "
is that Turkey's foreign policy in Africa first turned to the East and to Muslim countries, whereas now, we have observed for a few years that the West is the object of all the attentions of Turkey, including countries which are not predominantly Muslim.
In addition, there are three countries [Angola, Nigeria, Togo] which have varied historical ties.
So this tour also shows a new stage in the dimension of Turkey's foreign policy in Africa
”.
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See also: Turkey continues its diplomatic offensive in Africa
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Turkey
Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Angola
Nigeria
Togo