Foreigners who have left Niger in the three weeks since the coup have done so from a new Turkish-built airport. Those delegations that have approached to negotiate with the new authorities in Niamey, very possibly have stayed in a five-star hotel of similarly Turkish origin. All this, for the same reason that the Spanish tourists held in Ethiopia have flown back via Istanbul. Because Turkey, for twenty years, has made Africa a priority.
In the Sahel, where everything seems to be reduced to a struggle between a shrinking France and a growing Russia, Turkey has not stopped gaining ground, in the background. Under Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Ankara has increased its trade with Africa sevenfold. There, in international tenders, 18% of public works awards go to Turkish construction companies. Seventy billion euros in recent years, between roads, railways, stadiums or hospitals.
An influence that is also diplomatic, military and religious –with the construction of mosques– and that has not gone unnoticed by the ancient metropolises. And that is at the origin of the sparks that flew two or three years ago between the presidents Emmanuel Macron and Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The fact is that from no city in the world can you fly directly to as many African destinations (61) as from Istanbul. Turkish Airlines, the flag carrier, in which the State retains 49%, has accompanied the Erdogan government in this commitment.
Some have wanted to reduce Turkish designs to a neo-Ottoman fantasy. But his ambition goes far beyond Libya or Tunisia. Beyond even the many Muslim and Sunni countries in North Africa and the Sahel. Ankara, which twenty years ago had just ten embassies on the continent, is about to open number 44, in Guinea Bissau, to play in the same league as France, the United Kingdom, Russia, China and the United States.
Erdogan also adds fifty visits to Africa, to thirty-odd countries. More than any other president. In fair correspondence, African politicians are the most faithful in their inaugurations.
The fact that the new foreign minister is the former head of Turkish intelligence, Hakan Fidan, a great connoisseur of the Libyan dossier and the nebula of jihadist groups, ensures that Turkey will continue to play strong in Africa, to maintain its influence from coast to coast and from Tripoli – where there were skirmishes yesterday – to Mogadishu (where it has a military base).
Turkey has repatriated its citizens in Niger, but could soon return, thanks to its good image in the region, where it has military agreements with several countries.
In Niger, the ousted Mohamed Bazoum – from the Arab minority – acquired Turkish drones, as Mali or Burkina Faso have done, from the company of one of Erdogan's son-in-laws, Bayraktar. The company belonging to another son-in-law, Albayarak, was awarded the management of the ports of Malabo and Bata, in Equatorial Guinea, before the summer.
Turkey's 175 schools in English and French, in 26 African countries, aspire to cradle tomorrow's elite, their mosques today's preachers, and their scholarships each other.
