Turkey using dubious deals to infiltrate Africa

Mahmud al-Batakoshi

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has endless ambitions in Africa. He infiltrates the continent by hammering out arms deals and defense pacts.

Infiltration engineer

Adnan Tanrıverdi, a retired general who worked as an advisor to Erdoğan, is the architect of Turkey’s Africa infiltration and the dubious deals Turkey finalizes with the countries of the continent.

Tanrıverdi owns an export company that is totally financed by the Turkish government. He advises the Turkish president on military matters, even as he left his advisory post in January this year.

This man believes that Turkey should share its military capabilities with friendly countries through special training programs for the security forces of these countries.

Export companies have been Turkey’s tool for infiltrating 35 African countries since 2013. Turkey implements military training programs south of the Sahara. It trains police and security forces from African countries.

Turkey offers all these services to these countries for free.

Suspicious cooperation

Turkey has signed a large number of joint defense pacts with African countries. Its joint defense pact with Chad, for example, opens the door for the exchange of visits and technical expertise among defense and security institutions in the two states.

The pacts with Sudan, Uganda, the Ivory Coast and other African states allow the same thing.

Such deals give Turkey the chance to interfere in African countries like it does in Libya now.

Erdoğan justifies his country’s interference in Libya by citing a security cooperation deal it signed with the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA).

Turkey and the GNA signed the deal in November 2019. It allows Turkey to offer consultancy and expertise for the militias allied with the GNA.