Algerian Foreign Minister Ahmed Attaf met Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan Thursday in the capital, Ankara. Two top diplomats held a joint news conference where Fidan hailed advanced relations between their countries.
Fidan said Türkiye’s approach to ties with the African countries had a different approach than other countries in touch with Africa and African countries appreciated it.
“They see Türkiye has no intention of exploiting, colonizing, or domineering them. We successfully continue adapting a cooperation model based on voluntary cooperation and sharing resources while generating opportunities in Africa,” he said.
The Turkish minister underlined the economic aspect of bilateral relations, pointing out the significant presence of Turkish businesses in the North African country. “We are determined to increase the investments,” he said.
Fidan said they also discussed how their countries could cooperate on a regional level and exchange opinions on issues affecting Africa. He said that their meeting was a preparatory discussion for the anticipated visit of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to Algeria.
Ahmed Attaf said at the news conference that they would host a high-level cooperation meeting soon. “Turkish-Algerian relations are at a stage of great progress on the political and economic level. We have come a long way in the past three years. It is unprecedented in the history of our countries,” he said.
Two ministers also answered questions about their views on recent coups in Africa, particularly in Niger. Attaf said that it was important to maintain peace in Niger and military solution to the problems was not a genuine solution. He said they opposed an outside military intervention in Niger (after the coup). “You see what happened in Libya after a military intervention. We learned our lesson as a neighboring country,” he said.
Hakan Fidan said the string of coups in Africa was undesirable and said there were two root causes in the continent.
“One of them is related to the problem of failure to establish a sustainable political system in these countries, which won their independence more recently and sought to be nation-states. It is related to a lack of sustainable economic development, failure to address infrastructure, superstructure problems, fight against terrorism and similar issues. The other cause is related to foreign intervention, to some imperialist powers’ policies toward the African countries,” he said.
Fidan pointed out Türkiye’s “Africa opening” during the tenure of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as prime minister and president in the past two decades and noted an increasing number of Turkish Embassies in the continent, which now stands at 46. He said their “opening” expanded systemically, first through embassies and later with cultural activities and growing economic cooperation and investments and services provided by Turkish entities, including Turkish Airlines (THY) and Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TİKA) (which Fidan himself chaired in the early 2000s).
He said the African countries appreciated Türkiye’s approach. “In recent years, our relations evolved to new aspects including contribution to political stability and counterterrorism, upon requests of some African countries,” he said.
“Recently, defense industry cooperation, cooperation of countries with our Ministry of National Defense, and intelligence agencies are increasing. On a continental level, our relations are reaching a strategic level,” he added.
