What will Erdogan do in Angola, Nigeria and Togo
The point of Giuseppe Gagliano
The development of military cooperation between the Gulf of Guinea states and Turkey will be at the center of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's visit, on an official tour in Angola, Nigeria and Togo, from 17 to 20 October.
While a political, economic and cultural rapprochement is planned, the security aspect will be particularly central in the discussions with presidents João Lourenço, Muhammadu Buhari and Faure Gnassingbé. As Turkey's influence continues to grow, Ankara has decided to open a third front in both Western Sahel and East Africa.
Thus, a large delegation of Savunma Sanayi Baskanligi (SSB) will accompany President Erdogan to promote the interests of the Turkish defense industry. This agency, which reports directly to the presidency, is responsible for purchasing military equipment on behalf of the country's armed forces and the intelligence community. Above all, it coordinates exports and manages industrial compensation for the benefit of the client countries of the Turkish industry. Finally, it is the SSB that guarantees export credits through Türk Eximbank, a very popular financing instrument, particularly for African states. The agency, led by Ismail Demir, includes the giant Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) and the company STM among its subsidiaries.
If Ankara aims to increase trade with Angola, which should go from 170 to 500 million dollars, Nigeria will discuss the hydrocarbon and energy sectors. As for the defense, the Turkish ambassador to Nigeria, Hidayet Bayraktar, has actively courted the Navy staff since August under the orders of Admiral Awwal Zubaru Gambo, as well as Lieutenant General Farouk Yahaya in charge of the army. Finally, in Togo, the Turkish defense industry intends to take advantage of the ambitious plan to strengthen the Togolese Armed Forces (FAT) envisaged by Lomé in the military planning law 2021-2025.
This unprecedented African tour by Erdogan is also the prelude to the third Turkey-Africa Summit to be held in Istanbul on 17 and 18 December. More than thirty African heads of state were invited to the event, which should demonstrate the new strategic partnership between Ankara and 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/erdogan-africa-angola-nigeria-togo/ on Mon, 18 Oct 2021 06:16:26 +0000.