By Safiu Kehinde
In an effort to strengthen Turkey’s diplomatic ties with Africa, Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has arrived Angola for his first leg of mini-tours to three African countries with Nigeria shortlisted among three countries.
The President landed at Angola’s capital, Luanda, in company of Turkey’s first lady, Emine Erdogan, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavusoglu, Energy and Natural Resources Minister, Fatih Dönmez, Defense Minister, Hulusi Akar, and Trade Minister, Mehmet Mus. The President and his team were welcomed by Angola’s Foreign Minister, Tete Antonio and Alp Ay, Turkish Ambassador to Angola, at the Quarto de Fevereiro International Airport.
With Nigeria scheduled to be visited on October 18-19, President Recep will start his tour at Angola which will last two days – 17th to 18th of October.
Prior to this visitation, Erdogan last paid a visit to Nigeria in 2016. He later hosted President Muhammadu Buhari in 2017 where he revealed the readiness of Turkey to seize all opportunities to activate true potential of the two countries’ economic relation.
Turkey-Africa relationship started growing after the cold war ended. The European country shifted to a more diversified, multi-dimensional, and independent foreign policy which prompted the establishment of diplomatic relationship with African countries.
In 2005, Turkey strategically declared the year as “Year of Africa” — a move which successfully saw to the declaration of Turkey as a strategic partner by the African Union in 2008. Further development arose after the first Turkey-African Cooperation Summit was held in the commercial capital, Istanbul. From only twelve embassies across Africa- with North Africa claiming five of them, Turkey now has 43 embassies across the black continent.
With a third Turkey-Africa Partnership summit slated to be held at Istanbul on 17-18 December, Turkey’s goal of supporting Africa’s development efforts and increasing commercial, cultural, and human relations will be evaluated using Africa Partnership Policy as a yardstick.
