Different Approaches to Africa

Stubborn Thing: Türkiye’s President Erdogan has made more than 50 visits to 30 different African countries.

When high level US officials announce plans for an Africa trip, I’m often asked by the media for my reaction. I always begin the same way: “I’m looking forward to the day when these trips are so frequent, so regular,  they’re no longer news.”

President Biden didn’t visit Sub-Saharan Africa until after Election Day in 2024. Kamala Harris traveled just once to Africa as vice president, visiting Ghana, Tanzania, and Zambia in 2023. President Trump didn’t travel to Africa in his first term, though he has already made one trip, to Egypt, in his second. Egypt is also where Mike Pence made his only visit to Africa as vice president.

Türkiye’s engagement with Africa has been strikingly different.

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in his time as prime minister (2003-14) and now as president, has made more than 50 visits to 30 different African countries throughout the continent. He has made trips to oil and gas producers like Nigeria, Angola, and Senegal (five times). He has visited countries with large critical mineral and precious metals reserves like South Africa, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Guinea (Bauxite). He has visited countries that are major customers for his country’s technology, like Ethiopia and Algeria.

President Erdogan’s intentions are refreshingly clear. As noted in an Al Jazeera analysis a few years back, Türkiye is seeking “to increase its influence in the continent by using every channel of diplomacy, trade, investment, education, health, security and military cooperation along with soft power tools like culture and history.”

Türkiye’s outreach to Africa has gone well beyond President Erdogan’s visits. During the COVID pandemic, Ankara pledged 15 million vaccine doses to the continent.  Türkiye’s Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) has already carried out an estimated 2,000 infrastructure projects across Africa. The country has established at least 37 military affairs offices on the continent, and launched more than 20 cultural centers (Yunus Emre Institutes) and 200 schools (Maarif Foundation schools) that offer language training and cultural activities.

In the years since Erdogan first became prime minister, the number of their embassies in Africa has grown from 12 to 44, and Ankara says it has plans for seven more. Since 2003, trade volume between Türkiye and Sub-Saharan Africa has risen from $5.4 billion to roughly $50 billion in 2025 —and Ankara has vowed to reach $75 billion in the next several years. There are reportedly at least 48 Türkiye — Africa Business Councils on the continent.

At a time when the West seems to be paying less attention to Africa, Türkiye is clearly paying more. What do they see that we apparently do not?