Turkey in South-South Cooperation: New Foreign Policy Approach in Africa

Abstract

It is a fair treatment, without any exaggeration, to argue that the rise of Turkey in Africa in multiple areas as an actor is rather novel for foreign policy of Ankara. From development assistance to economy, politics to security, Turkey is now an influential player in African politics. Turkey's Africa policy has more meaning than a normal foreign policy relation. It is also a mature deepening of South-South cooperation (SSC) in Turkish foreign policy. One of the most novel parts of Turkey's foreign policy since 2002 is its endeavor to be part of the South-South cooperation and increase its visibilities in development aid projects. This involvement -both at state and NGO levels -is particularly palpable on the African continent. Rather than following the footsteps of other countries, such as traditional donors, Ankara has been trying to develop its own understanding and implementation -the Turkish way -based on experiences mostly gained from Balkans and Central Asian republics.These dimensions explain Turkey's development policy at ideational, societal and institutional levels in Somalia and beyond in Africa. Religion along with trade is one of the key drivers of this policy at societal and state levels. At ideational front, there has been a new geographical imagination in Turkey that sees Africa from a totally different perspective comparing to a decade ago.

Assessing the EU’s and Turkey’s Triangular Development Cooperation partnership in the Sub-Saharan Africa

“…The Ankara Consensus refers to a socio-economic and political development model elaborated to boost the development of African countries, which is different from the neoliberal Washington consensus model and from the state-led Beijing Consensus model of development (Donelli, 2018(Donelli, , 2021. This Ankara Consensus model is a middle or third-way model of development which borrows from both DAC and SSDC models of development cooperation with the emphasis on peacebuilding, transparency, sustainability, capacity building, non-interference and mutual benefit (Huang, 2015:24-31;Nganje, 2014;Özkan, 2018). Indeed, despite its apparent rapprochement with other emerging donors, such as China which openly opposes the Western development model, Turkey, due to its 'hybrid' identity and long-standing connection with the west, does not totally reject the western approach to development.…”

“…Second, from the perspective of Turkey-Africa relations, the existing literature has extensively focused on three broad issue areas, namely trade (Dipama &Parlar Dal, 2021; Donelli, 2018; Parlar Dal & Dipama, 2020), foreign and security policy (Akpınar, 2013; Aras &Akpınar, 2015: 230–247; Cannon, 2016; Donelli 2018; Donelli & Cannon, 2021; Kardas, 2012:1–16) and development cooperation (Aras & Akpınar, 2015; Aras, 2017; Donelli, 2021; Belder & Dipama, 2018; Dipama & Belder, 2014; Akpınar, 2021; Turhan, 2021; Özkan, 2013: 578; Özkan, 2012, 2016 & 2017). The bulk of literature on the issue of development cooperation from Turkey’s perspective has focused on examining the patterns and motivations of Turkey’s development aid policies towards the SSA (Aras &Akpınar, 2015; Aras, 2017; Akpınar, 2021; Belder & Dipama, 2018; Donelli, 2018; Donelli, 2021; Murphy & Woods, 2014; Özkan, 2012, 2013, 2016, 2017; Özkan 2018; Parlar Dal, Dipama & Belder, 2014), without going further into investigating the implications for the EU and the TDC. Given this background, the sphere of the TDC provides an interesting case of discussion about the triangle EU-Turkey-SSA.…”

“…Likewise, Turkey emphasizes the ownership principle through its hailed recipient-demand and capacity-building approach by underlining that only Africans can design the best roadmap towards the achievement of their development (Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, non-dated) and insists on unconditional (non-interference in domestic affairs of the recipient countries), win-win and symmetrical features of its development cooperation features towards the SSA. The unconditional nature, the preference for bilateral aid and the emphasis on national ownership in Turkey’s development cooperation policies further underscore its rapprochement with the Beijing development cooperation model (Stearns & Sucuoğlu, 2016: 10–14; Özkan, 2018). As a country that shifted from an aid recipient to an aid donor status in the changing development landscape, Turkey has also been presented as a country with ‘much success and experience to share with the least developed countries (LDCs)’(Korkut & Çiçelekoğlu, 2013:194).…”

Turkey’s Engagement with the African Organisations: Partner or Competitor?

“…Furthermore, Turkey has provided scholarships to thousands of African students, believing that those students will be a natural bridge between Turkey and the African countries in the future. Turkish Airlines, Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA), the Directorate of Religious Affairs known as Diyanet, the Presidency for Turks Abroad and Related Communities (YTB) and Turkish Red Crescent (KIZILAY) are among the most influential actors playing the leading roles in the implementation of the new Turkish foreign policy towards Africa (Ozkan, 2018, pp. 570–571).…”