In our recent history, Türkiye-Africa relations are one of the areas where all possible boundaries have been pushed, from foreign policy to economic life, from education to health, especially in development and humanitarian aid. It is as if the centuries-long Turkish presence on the continent has been resurrected again and again. Turks were told that they could not or even should not return to this vast geography. Despite all their efforts for almost the entire 20th century, the nation that was the architect of an unprecedented meeting between Asia and Africa could not open the doors that were closed to it.
Even as we entered the 2000s, when an important breakthrough was mentioned about Africa, it was only a matter of time before the subject was immediately closed. The answer to the slightest attempt to recognize this continent at an international event could end with “now is not the time.” The presence of their ancestors in almost half of this vast geography of 30 million square kilometers was left to be forgotten only in archival documents, in manuscripts on library shelves or the pages of a few printed books. North Africa, East Africa and Central Africa, which were a major field of endeavor for the Turks, were left aside. The new information produced about almost the entire continent since the beginning of the 19th century was limited to the memoirs of Western travelers, scholarly studies in research centers in Paris and London universities, and even what French and British writers described in their novels, most of which were fictional.
In the 1900s, Türkiye was deeply worried that if it produced any knowledge, it would probably not find an interlocutor to benefit from it. This probably could not continue and the biggest obstacle was related to the fact that it was relegated to the status of a country that would have no sphere of influence in the future of Africa, which had been divided by seven European states at the Berlin Conference in 1885. With the exception of Ethiopia, which remained independent in the continent in the years it was newly established, and Liberia, which was closely followed by the U.S., there was no space left for it to make a move.
As Türkiye's first diplomatic contacts with Egypt in 1925 and Ethiopia in 1926 were preparing for their 100th anniversary, Türkiye's return to the continent was revitalized in the early 1950s when African countries gained their independence. Diplomatic contacts were established in 1952 as soon as Libya became independent in 1951. This was followed by the establishment of diplomatic relations in Tunisia, Morocco, Sudan and many others. Fast forward to the 21st century, between 2009 and 2022, 32 new embassies were opened, bringing the total number to 44. Currently, there are 10 African countries in which Türkiye does not yet have an embassy. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's Africa policy aims to open embassies in all of these countries.
In 2024, when the world population will reach 8.2 billion, Africa will surpass India and China with 1.5 billion people. Türkiye is one of the countries that have responded most effectively to the African Union's move, launched in 2005 by other countries of the continent, starting with international relations and continuing in many areas such as trade, defense and security, development, education, health, agriculture and animal husbandry.
It is not a coincidence, but the result of a multifaceted interaction that has brought the trade volume, which could only exceed $5 billion at most, to a level exceeding $30 billion today. In March 2010, the Prime Ministry's Africa Strategy Document, which was prepared and entered into force, mobilized all the mechanisms of the state, both official and private. On the one hand, special units in Africa were established within each relevant ministry. Starting with Turkish Airlines and the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA), the Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEIK), the Presidency of Religious Affairs (Diyanet), the Turkish Maarif Foundation, the Presidency for Turks Abroad and Related Communities (YTB), all universities, the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD), the Turkish Red Crescent, the Yunus Emre Institute and other important institutions, field studies were carried out in many countries of the continent with an ever-expanding volume. As a result of the investment activities of businessmen, which started in Libya in the mid-1970s and spread all over the continent, more than $100 billion was reached. From food to textiles, from the machinery industry to the defense industry, Türkiye hosted its African customers not only in Istanbul but also in every city in the country where production is carried out.
Gone are the 1990s, when even ordinary Turkish products were delivered to African markets through European intermediaries. African merchants and Turkish businesspeople are now supplying products directly to their customers. In many countries of the continent, they are even taking part in the competitive environment in the field by establishing facilities that produce food, textiles, mining, cement and construction materials such as iron, in line with what the fourth Industrial Revolution requires. The number of companies belonging to our business world that build and operate airports rather than passengers, build and operate ports in addition to sending cargo by ships, complete the construction of hotels with the most advanced facilities of today and undertake their operations is moving toward a number that can be expressed in the thousands.
Turkish NGOs' emergency humanitarian aid activities in a few countries in Africa have now turned into longer-lasting, small-scale development efforts covering the entire continent. The problems encountered in the provision of drinking water have been revitalized in rural areas with tens of thousands of water wells drilled in dozens of countries. The 1980s and even the 1990s, when dozens of students were studying in public and private universities, are long gone. Now we are living in the 2020s when 60,000 young Africans are receiving education. Tens of thousands of students are also studying at the Maarif Foundation's schools in Africa. Hospitals in Türkiye are not only accepting patients and providing health services but in some countries, modern hospitals have been built in accordance with the requirements of the age.
At first glance, even if Türkiye's presence in Africa may resemble the presence of other countries such as the U.S., China, India, Brazil, Russia and Japan, let alone the former colonial powers, Türkiye follows a unique approach to Africa. Neither does it burden its interlocutors with loans that are difficult to repay, nor does it employ only its own people by taking them to the business field; on the contrary, many Turkish businesspeople turn their earnings in the continent into investments there. They prioritize earning not only for themselves but also for Africans. The main goals set for the continent for the last 20 years have now been transformed into big moves. However, it is premature to say that Türkiye has reached a level where it can make its full weight felt both to the natives of this vast geography and to its rivals active in the field, as it did in the Ottoman centuries.
Shaping its diplomatic expansions for the Turkic republics in Asia to have a presence in Africa as soon as possible will further strengthen Türkiye's presence on the continent. Since 27 of the 57 members of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) are African countries, it is possible to expand these with the other 30 countries by opening areas of interaction in all areas such as education, health, sports, defense and development. Türkiye, with its vitaly strategic geography between Asia, Europe and Africa, integrates rather than divides, builds rather than destroys, educates rather than drives to ignorance, and provides its security. In short, Türkiye wants to see a self-sufficient Africa that has entered the process of regaining what it lost due to colonialism, the most destructive period in its 3,000-year history. In this process, Türkiye's approach with its great sacrifices, especially in Somalia, has become a sought-after country for African statesmen at every opportunity. All in all, it can be said that although the continent was thought to be forgotten by the Turks, they left those days behind and made their comeback to Africa.
