Saturday, May 25, 2019

Turkey's Efforts to Establish Influence in the Horn of Africa

Lawfare posted on 19 May 2019 an analysis titled "Turkey and the New Scramble for Africa: Ottoman Designs or Unfounded Fears?" by Zach Vertin, Brookings Institution.

The author notes that most Turkish officials and analysts suggest the Horn of Africa does not break the top five foreign policy issues for Turkey although the region is nevertheless significant. Turkey's actions in the Horn are motivated in part by competition with Gulf adversaries Saudi Arabia and the UAE. President Erdogan's wider ambitions are to sit atop a revitalized Muslim world but concerns about neocolonial or even territorial conquest are overstated.