Since Turkey was established in 1923, Africa has become the most ignored area
in Turkish Foreign Policy (TFP). During the Cold War era, Turkey did not have
strong political or economic relations with Africa, as its Western oriented
foreign policy in this period paralysed the development of a multidimensional
foreign policy towards the southern continent. The first and most important
attempt to increase economic and political relations between Turkey and Africa
started in 1998, with the acceptance of the “Africa Opening Action Plan”;
however, it could not be implemented successfully because of the political
instabilities in Turkey. However, following the coming to power of the Justice
and Development Party (JDP) in 2002, Turkish foreign policy has changed significantly
and new principles have started to play an important role as Turkey
has aimed to reinforce its multidimensional and active foreign policy with
different continents. Furthermore, it has committed to further contributing to
international peace and security by taking more international responsibilities.
In this regard, Turkey announced 2005 as a “year of Africa” and began to
reinforce its institutional ties with African regional and sub-regional
organisations, including the African Union (AU), the Intergovernmental
Authority on Development (IGAD), the Economic Community of West African States
(ECOWAS), the African Development Bank, and the East African Community (EAC).
In 2005, the Turkish Prime Minister’s first
visit to Africa was an historic moment for shifting traditional relations
between Turkey and Africa, as the AU accepted Turkey as a strategic partner. In
recent years, Turkey’s increasing relations with African organisations, in
particular with the AU, have strengthened its soft power on the continent in
particular, and in world politics in general. Meanwhile, Turkey opened 15 new
embassies in Africa in 2008, making a total of 22 across the continent and 10
more expected to be opened by the end of 2012. Why is a strategic partnership
with Africa becoming so important for Turkey? One reason is that the world has
changed as a multi-polar international system replaced a bipolar one with the
collapse of the Soviet Union. The concept of security has dramatically
transformed from military to non-military threats, such as climate change,
international terrorism and illegal immigration, which have increasingly come
to threaten all states’ economic and political interests. No state can resolve
today’s global issues on its own. And as a changing nature of foreign policy,
Turkey wants to play a more active role in global issues, Africa included. A
dynamic continent, with a wide range of opportunities for Turkey.
More importantly, Turkey hosted the first
ever Turkey-Africa summit in Istanbul in 2008, an important step for developing
comprehensive relations between the two, with 49 African states participating.
The summit played a significant role in reinforcing mutual trust and restoring
relations between the two different actors, and political stability has had a
positive impact on the growing of relations. Creating a strategic partnership
between two different actors has provided opportunities for both and given them
strength to fight against the new common threats and challenges. During the
summit, the “Istanbul Declaration on Turkey-Africa Partnership: Cooperation and
Solidarity for a Common Future” and “Cooperation Framework for Turkey-Africa
Partnership” were adopted. Turkey has also sustained international peace,
security and stability by giving support to the UN peacekeeping operations in
Africa, currently numbering eight.
The global actors’ foreign and security
policies towards Africa have changed dramatically with the terrorist attacks on
the USA in 2001. The international actors, such as the EU, the UN, the USA, and
Japan paid more attention to Africa and highlighted that collapsed states,
conflicts and wars, and international terrorism not only threaten economic and
political interests of African states but also damage interests of economic and
political interests of the global actors. The new global threats and challenges
necessitated the global actors creating a strategic partnership with Africa. In
this regard, Turkey started to develop a strategic partnership with different
continents and countries in order to resolve global problems more effectively.
In addition, these initiatives have brought political and economic
opportunities for Turkey. For instance, it received significant political
support from most African states when selected as a non-permanent member of the
Security Council for the UN between 2008 and 2009. At the same time, its trade
volume in Africa rose from $16 billion in 2008 to $30 billion in
2011.
The main concern for TFP towards Africa is
that the question of whether Turkey is ready to develop a consistent foreign
and security policy towards Africa remains critical. Importantly, Turkey’s
foreign policy with Africa should aim to develop a long-term strategy. In this
regard, continuity is necessary for strengthening relations between Turkey and
Africa. At the same time, Turkey needs to construct its theoretical framework
for its foreign and security policy for Africa. Furthermore, Turkey’s foreign and
security policy should aim to create a genuine strategic partnership rather
than a dominant partnership model and increase Africa’s economic and political
interests.
Copy right is reserved.
Abdurrahim Siradag
Lecturer at International
University of Sarajevo
PhD Candidate at Leiden
University
absiradag@gmail.com
