Fransız etkisi ve Çin varlığına karşı Türkiye'nin Sahara altı Afrika ülkelerine girişi

One century after the presence of the Ottoman Empire in the northern part of Africa, the Republic of Turkey wants to develop its relationship with the sub-Saharan African countries. In fact, because of its old relationship with the countries of northern Africa, the activities of Turkey were essentially concentrated in this part of Africa but today Turkey wants to act and diversify its activities everywhere in the continent.Turkey, with a growing economy, also wants to open some new markets in sub-Saharan African countries that we can consider to have markets that are still young and dynamic in comparison to Turkey?s old markets, which are now saturated. At the beginning we can remark that, Sub-Saharan Africa, also called Black Africa, is generally divided into four sub-regions known as: West Africa, East Africa, Central Africa and Southern Africa.Sub-Saharan Africa is separated off from North Africa by the Sahara desert. It consists of 49 countries including the islands, and is the most impoverished region of the African continent, particularly in terms of its economy. It is also the most turbulent region politically. However, it may seem exact to observe that these realities hide great paradoxes, since this region of Africa also boasts some very valuable natural resources.Sub-Saharan Africa has gone through several eras with relation to its international system. The independence and sovereignty which most Sub-Saharan countries now enjoy is the fruit of a long process which was as grueling then, as it is now fascinating.It is now about 50 years ago that these countries have become independent states. Slave trades, colonization, North-South relationships and globalization have therefore left their mark on the international system.Having remained dominated by foreign powers for such a long time, these countries are now destabilized just as much politically as economically and culturally. Even if the snatched independence from the colonizing powers was once a source of pride and resulted in much hope for these countries, one has to ascertain that these countries are still very dependent in this game of interdependence around which the international society resolves.Amongst the forty-eight least developed countries in the world, thirty-three are located in Sub-Saharan Africa. The lie of the land which Sub-Saharan Africa offers has led several other states, notably France, China and Turkey, to propose to Africans co-operations. Yet there exists behind the altruism which these countries show towards Sub-Saharan Africa, a number of economical stakes.Firstly, France, which as a former colonizing power retains much of its influence, is today the third silent partner of less developed countries. France even dedicates half of its aid for development to Africa, but one must also add that France features as the number one supplier to Sub-Saharan Africa, with a market share of close to 30%.Secondly, the People's Republic of China, seen as a historical ally since it offered its support to the Africans of Bandung in their quest towards independence, is today not only its number one money-lender at prime lending rate, but also Africa's third economic partner.Finally, Turkey, which advocates its solidarity towards Africans through the Pax Ottomana, has become a strategic partner of Africa and is starting to multiply the volume of its business trade with Africans.In this way Africa presents itself as a vast and dynamic market intended for the distribution and sale of manufactured products, as well as an efficient supply source of primary materials for several countries whose traditional markets have become saturated.The relatively late arrival of Turkey in Sub-Saharan Africa compared to France or China, considering its current influence is still limited, appears to show that Turkey is in a weaker position than its predecessors.However, when one observes Turkey's progress is Sub-Saharan Africa, whose actions in effect started in 2003, and which by 2008 had managed to attain the status of strategic partner with Africa, one can conclude that in just five years, Turkey has been able to revitalize its relations which may at first have seemed uncertain, in view of the lack of knowledge from both sides and their first failed attempts at pprochements.Indeed, the political plan of action to open up Turkey to Africa finds its roots in the 1980's thanks to president Turgut Özal, who made frequent attempts at rapprochement with Sub-Saharan Africa. These attempts were to stumble upon several obstacles, particularly the triggering of the Golf War in 1990, which brought Turkey to revalue its geo-strategic role between Europe and Asia, at the expense of its politics in Africa where the stakes were too low.In 1998, the then Turkish foreign affairs minister, Ismail Cem, succeeded in passing through government the famous plan of action to open up to Africa ( Afrika Açılım ve Eylem Planı ). This plan would focus on developing economic and political relations with the area of Africa which usually escapes Turkey's traditional field of action: in this case, Sub-Saharan Africa, or Black Africa. Yet other new obstacles were to come in the way of this plan for Africa. That is to say: spastic internal political movements, the capture of Abdullah Öcalan, head of the terrorist organization PKK, the great earthquake of 1999 and the economical crisis of 2001.In 2002, the AKP (Party for justice and development) came to power and a concrete expression of the plan of action to open up to Africa could be observed. For the first time in the history of the Republic of Turkey, a Turkish prime minister went on an official visit to a Sub-Saharan country. In fact, the turkish prime minister Recep Tayip Erdoğan went for an official visit in 2005, first to Ethiopia and after to South Africa.In 2005, Turkey received observer status in the African Union and the year 2005 was even dedicated to Africa. In January 2008, during its 10th summit in Addis-Ababa, the African Union pronounced Turkey as strategic partner of Africa. Later on, in August 2008, the very first Turkey-Africa summit took place in Istanbul, where the participation of several heads of African states and governments was recorded. After this summit, 51 countries on 53 countries of Africa voted Turkey as a non-permanent member at the security council of the United Nations Organization.The new Turco-African strategic partnership, although recent, has already produced effects as much at a political, as at an economic level.One can ascertain a consolidation in Turco-African diplomatic relations, materialized thanks to the multiplication, over a short period of time, of several Turkish diplomatic representations in Sub-Saharan Africa. Whilst in 2008 only seven embassies were to be found in Sub-Saharan Africa, Turkey now has at its disposal a total of twenty-seven embassies, twenty of which have already taken office.At the United Nations general assembly, the African people did not hesitate in backing Turkey in 2008, which presented itself as a ?spokesperson? for Africa at this authority level and even declared it had a ?moral? responsibility towards Africa.At an economic level, Turkey became the 25th non-regional member of the ADB (African Development Bank) in 2008.Turkey also built an exterior business bridge ? between Turkey and Africa ? which considerably encouraged the trade volume between Turkey and Sub-Saharan Africa. Africans tend more to use the commercial destination of Istanbul, where a businessman meeting forum of Turkey and the countries of Sub-Saharan Africa is organized every year.The relations between Turkey and Sub-Saharan Africa therefore seem to be healthy and are developing in a non-complex way compared to the other relations (with France and China) that Sub-Saharan Africa maintains.That said, one must assert that Turkey's actions in Sub-Saharan Africa have brought comments from both the African and Turkish parties. Whilst the Turks, on the whole, believe that Turkey's actions in Sub-Saharan Africa are enterprises in the spirit of solidarity and co-operation, hence the naming of the Turco-African summit of 2008 as ? Turkey-Africa cooperation summit?, some Africans, who keep in mind the bitterness of colonization, are very suspicious of this Turkish international co-operation.They do not hesitate in thinking that Turkey's actions in Sub-Saharan Africa are lead solely in the single aim of satisfying economic interests and to benefit from the diplomatic support of Africans whose diplomatic weight is very important at the level of the general assembly of the United Nations.Nevertheless, one can observe that some economic stakes exist for Turkey in Sub-Saharan Africa. When a comparison in terms of economic interests is made between France and China, we can also remark that Turkey's economic interests in Sub-Saharan Africa remain currently insignificant For example, imports to Turkey from Africa are lower than its exports to Africa which, for the most part, consist of construction materials.This could show that Turkey's presence in Sub-Saharan Africa is not only based on the extraction of primary resources, but is also based on construction, which, moreover, represents the largest part of Turkish projects in Africa.To conclude, one can say that Turkey's actions in Sub-Saharan Africa still being so recent; it would seem premature to judge them efficiently and definitely.In addition, Turkey could be perceived by Africans, who are still looking to pave their way to development, as a new medicine, whose efficiency one is as yet unaware of, but which has the advantage of not presenting any second effects for the moment.