The African variable in the contemporary Turkish policy

Abstract

Turkey has established its first diplomatic relations with African state – south of Sahara – that is ‘Ethiopia’ in 1926. But these relations remained below the ambitions till the coming of Erdogan government in 2002, which has held in 2008 the first Turkish- African conference in Istanbul. After this conference, Turkey decided to increase the number of its embassies from 12 to 27 embassies during one year, and increase its commercial cooperation from 12 billion in 2008 to 30 billion in 2012. This research deals with the Turkish cultural, strategic, political, social, economic, and intelligence motives in Africa. It concludes that these relations will witness more development and cooperation to serve the interests of both sides.