Turkey

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TURKISH AND BRICS ENGAGEMENT IN AFRICA

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Elem Eyrice Tepeciklioglu* , Mohammed Evren Tok**, and Syed Basher***

ABSTRACT

This article studies the political economy of Turkey’s relations with sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) since 2002 while Turkey was under the Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) rule. It argues that Turkey has focused its engagement in Africa mostly on humanitarian assistance and the economy. Contextualizing Turkey’s relations with SSA vis-à-vis other emerging market economies, especially the BRICS (Brazil/Russia/India/China/South Africa), provides ample insights into the nature of Turkey’s engagement in SSA. While Turkey’s involvement has some similarities with that of the BRICS, there are greater fundamental and structural differences from how the BRICS established their presence in SSA. These differences mostly find resonance when juxtaposed with the activism of non-governmental actors engaged in humanitarian missions and charity work with trade-related economic investments and activism.

Keywords: Turkey, sub-Saharan Africa, political economy, BRICS, trade, humanitarian assistance.

DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/jsdlp.v8i2.3

* Research Assistant, International Law Implementation and Research Centre, Yasar University, Izmir/Turkey. E-mail: elem.eyrice@gmail.com. Phone: +902324115651 Fax: +902325707000.

** Assistant Professor and Program Coordinator, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Doha/Qatar. E-mail: etok@hbku.edu.qa. Phone: +97433120327, Fax: +97433120327.

*** Associate Professor, Department of Economics, East West University, Dhaka, Bangladesh. E-mail: syed.basher@gmail.com, Phone: +8809666775577 ext. 140.

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ECONOMIC RELATIONS BETWEEN TURKEY AND AFRICA: CHALLENGES AND PROSPECTS

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Elem Eyrice Tepecikliogu*

ABSTRACT

African affairs occupied a secondary status in Turkish foreign policy until very recently. However, following the adoption of the Action Plan for Opening up to Africa in the late 1990s, Turkish politicians started to assign a higher priority to relations with African countries. The incumbent Turkish government now attaches great importance to developing long-term relations with those countries. We can also see that Africa’s image in Turkey is changing with journalists presenting new narratives about the continent and supporting Turkish involvement in African affairs. There is also an increasing interest in African studies in the academia, although scholarly work produced on African issues remains limited. This study explores the evolution of Turkish-African relations and concentrates mostly on Turkey’s economic engagement in African countries. It also seeks to analyse recent Turkish initiatives in Africa’s energy sector. The article argues, among other things, that although the low level of attention paid to African issues has changed, the pace of the development of relations with Africa is still slow and more steps have to be taken to further improve relations with African countries.

Keywords: Turkey, Africa, Sustainable Development

DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/jsdlp.v8i1.2

* Department of International Relations, Yasar University, Turkey. E-mail: elem.eyrice@gmail.com