How Turkey wages war on France in Africa
How did Turkey manage to penetrate into Africa? Giuseppe Gagliano's analysis
As China and Russia are increasingly turning their attention to Africa for the immense resources present in an anti-French and anti-American function, in the same way Turkey is implementing a power projection policy similar and specular in some ways to that of China.
In fact, since 1998 Turkey has implemented a policy of openness to Africa with the aim of increasing economic, political and cultural relations. Another significant step dates back to 2003 when Turkey joined the African union as an observer. Finally, in 2008 Turkey became a real strategic partner with Africa.
How did Turkey manage to penetrate into Africa?
Firstly through the diplomatic tool: the Turkish president has not only visited more than 30 African countries since 2004 but his African tours have become annual, allowing him to open numerous African embassies (19 to be exact). Naturally, any diplomatic visit by the Turkish president is closely linked to the stipulation of commercial agreements.
The second instrument through which Turkey enters Africa is precisely the economic one. The creation of the development aid agency Tika is certainly its strategic tool par excellence because it allows for the consolidation of Turkish cooperation in Africa.
Specifically, in fact, Turkish public aid passes through this agency which naturally addresses projects relating to the Muslim community present in Africa. It operates in 37 countries and its center is in Senegal. One of the most evident successes of this agency is the concession for 25 years in Senegal for the management of the Blaise-Diagne International Airport (AIBD) by the Turkish group Summa and Limak.
Another instrument of economic influence is certainly represented by Turkish Airlines in the African airline sector. Finally, the fact that Turkey is organizing economic forums – such as the Turkey-ECOWAS forum – demonstrates the centrality that Africa has now acquired for Turkish foreign policy.
The third instrument of Turkish influence in Africa is represented by the Islamic religion through, for example, the construction of mosques and Koranic schools in West Africa (a similar strategy pursued by China through the Confucius institutes).
Thanks to these institutions, Turkey increasingly wants to influence the African elites, but above all it wants to prevent its opponent Gülen – present in Africa – from representing a danger, a threat to Turkish hegemony. Precisely for this reason the Turkish president has decided to entrust the Maarif foundation with the management of the Koranic schools since this foundation is politically very close to the current Turkish government. A similar strategy is pursued by Turkey in Mali for example through the Malian Islamic High Council.
Well, in the light of this brief reflection, which European country has so far suffered the greatest damage from Turkish influence? Certainly France.
In fact, through the information agency Anadolu , Turkey – through an intelligent information war – criticizes in a systematic and capillary way all the French initiatives present in West Africa. In order to strengthen its anti-French information war, the Turkish agency has created a column dedicated to Islamophobia present in Africa through which Turkey denounces the presence of a real Islamic hatred fomented by the French in West Africa. Again through the information war put in place by this agency, Turkey feeds African anti-colonial sentiment towards the French. Indeed, strengthening the anti-French sentiment on the Turkish side in Africa does nothing but de-legitimize the French presence on the African continent.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/turchia-francia-africa-guerra-informativa/ on Sun, 07 Nov 2021 07:54:39 +0000.