President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan visited 30 of 54 countries in Africa with his visit to Angola, Togo and Nigeria on 17-20 October.
While the visits improved relations with African countries, institutions operating in different parts of the continent contributed to the deepening and advancement of relations with African countries.
Turkey’s relations with African countries continue with diplomatic missions as well as institutions such as the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA), Turkish Airlines (THY), Yunus Emre Institute (YEE) and Turkish Maarif Foundation (TMV) and agreements in different fields. .
Turkey, which opened its first embassy in the African continent in Cairo, the capital of Egypt, in 1925, opened its first embassy in Sub-Saharan Africa in Ethiopia in 1926.
Strengthening its diplomatic relations with the continent every year, Turkey has opened 31 embassies across the continent since 2009. The number of embassies in the continent of Turkey, which had embassies in only 12 African countries before the aforementioned year, increased to 43 with the steps taken.
Planning to open its 44th embassy in Bissau, the capital of Guinea-Bissau, one of the West African countries, Turkey aims to increase the number of embassies in the continent to 50.
Turkish Airlines flies to 61 destinations in Africa
In addition to Turkey’s diplomatic relations with African countries, direct flights were launched with Turkish Airlines to many countries.
Having made its first flight to Africa in 1956, THY increased the number of countries it flies to in the continent to 40 and the number of destinations to 61 with the flight to Luanda, the capital of Angola.
TMV also carries out activities in the field of education with schools and dormitories opened all over the continent. TMV provides education to 17 thousand 565 students in 175 educational institutions in 26 countries in Africa, and meets the accommodation needs of African students in 18 dormitories.
Presidency for Turks Abroad and Related Communities (YTB) provided higher education support to a total of 5,259 students from 52 African countries between 2010-2019. Currently, 4,403 African students are doing undergraduate, graduate and doctorate degrees at universities in Turkey. There are 8,786 Turkish graduates from 51 African countries.
TIKA and Yunus Emre Institute work for Africans in Africa
TIKA and Yunus Emre Institute work for Africans with the projects they carry out in the fields of development and education.
While TIKA carries out its activities in 22 representative offices in Africa, YEE operates with cultural centers in 10 countries.
YEE, which has offices in Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia in North Africa, Somalia, Sudan and Rwanda in East African countries, and Senegal, Mauritania and Gambia in West African countries, will lastly work to promote Turkish with its headquarters in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria.
On the other hand, YEE provides cooperation and rapprochement with Africans in different fields by carrying out activities in the fields of culture and arts, besides learning Turkish.
Turkey has military attachés in 19 countries in Africa
It carries out studies for cooperation in the field of security with the military attachés opened by Turkey in 19 African countries.
Turkish soldiers within the body of the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) have been serving in Mali and the Central African Republic within the scope of the United Nations Financial Multidimensional Integrated Stability Mission (MINUSMA) since 2016 to ensure peace and stability.
In 2017, Turkey established the Somali Turkish Task Force Command, which is the largest military training center abroad. In this command, officers and non-commissioned officers who will form the backbone of the Somali army are trained.
The training program prepared by the TAF for Libyan military students within the framework of the “Memorandum of Understanding on Security and Military Cooperation” signed between Turkey and Libya continues.
90 students from the Anti-Terrorism Force of the Libyan army, who received the most recent basic and advanced training for 6 and 12 weeks, received their diplomas on April 18.
