"Turkey and its drones in Africa... Has it turned into a hard power?"
With this title, Turkish writer Yusuf Salman Anank began his article on Middle East Eye, noting that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has deepened Ankara's relations with African countries with a series of drone sales.
The writer pointed out that Erdogan's 4-day trip to Africa this week - with stops in Nigeria, Angola and Togo - was hardly recorded by Turkish news, and instead the Turkish official media took the tone of public relations, emphasizing the country's humanitarian efforts, and its decolonization-free approach to the continent, Echoing Erdogan's private statements in the Angolan capital Luanda last Monday, in which he told Angolan President Jawar Lourenco, "As Turkey, we reject Western Orientalist tendencies towards the African continent, and we embrace the peoples of the continent without discrimination."
The writer added that Turkey's courtship with Africa is not new, and given its geographical proximity, its being a large consumption base and a source of natural resources, its countries have provided Turkey with an opportunity to achieve its local and regional goals.
He noted what some experts say about the chain of Turkish drone sales across Africa, and recent interventions in two African countries;
In this way, Turkey may transcend the soft power approach to become a game-changer in Africa.
Turkey's courtship with Africa is not new, given its geographical proximity, a large consumption base and a source of natural resources;
Its countries have provided Turkey with an opportunity to achieve its local and regional goals
The British website referred to what Ibrahim Bashir Abdullah, a researcher in Turkish-African relations at the University of Bayreuth in Germany, said that "its role appears in Somalia and West Africa, and recently its military participation in Libya; clearly that Turkey wants to expand its influence across the continent."
The writer added that Turkish drones have gained popularity in the international market in recent years, and even attracted Western countries such as Ukraine, Poland and Britain, and also reached African shores, where in late September the first batch of them arrived in Tunisia.
Morocco was next, expanding its stockpile of Turkish drones as well.
Rwanda and Ethiopia are considering buying these planes, and recently Nigeria has expressed interest in Turkish drones to fight organized crime.
The writer concluded his article with what the assistant professor at Yeditepe University in Istanbul, Volkan Ipek, said, who believes that Africa is a “rehabilitation field” for Turkish foreign policy, which has been disrupted by developments in its neighboring countries, especially in Syria.
Ipek said that Turkey has the upper hand against European powers on the continent because it does not have a colonial legacy.
He said, "Turkey has never had a policy like 'do what I want' or 'do as I say with Africa.' Despite this advantage - as the site indicated - APIC does not believe that Turkey has a greater strategy in Africa behind bilateral trade agreements."