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Turkey-Africa Relations Will Never Be The Same After The Attempted Coup

Turkey-Africa Relations Will Never Be The Same After The Attempted Coup

Turkey, like many other emerging economies, has over the last two decade staked its claim in  Africa, increasing its trade and relations with a number of countries on the continent.

The European country has steadily ramped up its diplomatic and foreign policy presence in Africa. This has led to an increase in diplomatic missions and economic activity between countries on the continent and Turkey.

The burgeoning relation between Africa and Turkey culminated in the declaration of 2005 as the “year of Africa.” It has hosted several other summits with African leaders since and became a member of the African Development Bank in 2013.

To date Turkey has more than tripled its African embassies to 39 since 2009, with its largest embassy in the world being in Somalia. Bilateral trade between Turkey and sub-Saharan Africa countries has also increased tenfold since 2000 to $23.4 billion in 2014, according to their Foreign Ministry.

 

But a failed putsch in Turkey a fortnight ago now threatens to reverse these gains.

Already, Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy, is being dragged into the post-coup crackdown by the Turkey government. A bank in the West African nation has been accused of helping transfer over $2 billion in a span of six month to finance an attempted coup in the European nation.

The Turkish Ambassador to Nigeria has also called on the Nigerian Government to close 17 Turkish schools in the west African nation for their alleged links with a movement his government says was involved in the mid-July failed coup attempt in Turkey, Prime Time reported.

Bilateral trade between Nigeria and Turkey has been on the rise in recent year, reaching $1.145 billion in  2015,  in favor of the African nation. Investors from the Balkan nation have also increasingly set up shop in Nigeria.

Bilateral Trade

“Our total trade volume is currently at $1.145 billion. Our export is $314 million and our import is $831 million. As you see, the result is to the favor of Nigeria,” This Day quoted Turkey’s President Recef Erdogan saying when he visited Nigeria in March this year.

“Our business people are connecting with their Nigerian counterparts,” he added.

All this now hangs in the balance as the July 15 attempted coup threatens to severed relations between the two countries.

Other African nations that have strong relations with Turkey include Ethiopia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Guinea and Djibouti.

Ethiopia is the largest recipient of Turkish investment in Africa and has received nearly half of all direct investment the Balkan nation has ever made on the continent. The horn of Africa nation has so far attracted $2.5 billion of the total 6 billion Turkey has invested in Africa.

The Africa’s fastest growing economy is also the fourth largest trade partner to Turkey. According to official data, trade between the two countries reached $420 million from just $27 million in 2000.

Africa has also been one of the key markets Turkey has looked to after it lost trade markets with it neighbors, particularly with Russia — after a Russian jet was shot down along the Syrian border in November last year.

It remains to be seen if Turkey-Africa relations will remain as strong as they were after the dust out of the purge on coup-plotter settles.