Military relations between Türkiye and Africa after Türkiye's opening to Africa policy

Following the end of the Cold War, Türkiye shifted its traditional foreign policy paradigms, embarking on a path of establishing multilateral relations. In 1998, Türkiye initiated the Opening Policy towards Africa in order to strengthen its future position on the African continent especially through establishing multilateral relations with African countries. The year 2005 was designated as the Year of Africa and, Türkiye was declared a strategic partner of the African Union before the First Türkiye-Africa Cooperation Summit held in 2008. Since then, Türkiye has adopted a policy that emphasizes shared historical and cultural values, operates on a win-win basis, and fosters commercial and cultural relations. Recently, Türkiye also expanded its military engagement on the continent for various reasons. This thesis focuses on Türkiye's military relations with African countries in the period following the adoption of the opening plan. Accordingly, it analyzes the motivating factors behind Türkiye's increasing security footprint in the continent through the military/defense cooperation agreements concluded with African countries, Türkiye's contributions to peacekeeping operations or other multilateral missions in the continent and the existing defense industry relations. In this context, the thesis aims to address how Türkiye established military relations with African countries and whether the military measures outlined in the Action Plan have been implemented.