Erdogan on a mission to seek allies more than trading partners


Date posted: January 27, 2017

Jean-Jacques Cornish

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has wrapped a three-nation East African safari. He’s visited more than ten countries on the continent in the past 18 months.

As a burgeoning trading nation, Turkey is understandably seeking new markets.

This time, however, Erdogan was seeking practical and moral support for his battle against moderate Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen.

He claims Gulen masterminded a botched coup attempt last year. The cleric, exiled in the United States, unequivocally denies this.


Erdogan either has to supply convincing evidence to back up the allegations he levels against Gulen and offer alternatives, or risk being seen to be imposing on African friends and risking to bilateral relations.


Erdogan no longer represents a country where the ring of cash registers predominates.

A series of terrorist attacks has dragged Turkey down to the level of its troubled neighbours.

The country bridging Europe and Asia has, in fact, become another Middle East trouble spot.

Bent on becoming a stronger executive president, Erdogan is seeking allies more than trading partners.

In Mozambique, he called on his Mozambican counterpart Felipe Nyusi to take action against Gulen.

Earlier in Tanzania, Erdogan warned at a joint press conference with President John Magufuli that he has evidence “that those elements who tried to topple our government are active in other countries as well”.


 

Erdogan wants the Gulen-linked schools in Africa to be closed down, although they are the very educational establishments which are popular with Africa’s middle class. They have sprung up all over Africa in recent years. They are an affordable alternative to French schools.


He was referring to African states in which Gulen’s Hizmet movement operates its international network of schools.

With Turkish government support, these establishments have helped to spread Turkish culture and influence abroad. Since the attempted coup in July 2016, however, the Turkish government has been mounting a crackdown on Gulen’s operations. Erdogan tried to drum up support for these punitive measures on his African tour.

He wants the Gulen-linked schools in Africa to be closed down, although they are the very educational establishments which are popular with Africa’s middle class.

There are some 20 Turkish schools in the Guinean capital Conakry and they have sprung up all over Africa in recent years. They are an affordable alternative to French schools.

The Hizmet movement has decades of experience in supplying quality education domestically.

Erdogan’s children are graduates of Gulen schools, although the Turkish president now contends Gulen’s master plan was to educate needy students and place them in military and public service positions with a long-term goal of state capture.

Erdogan either has to supply convincing evidence to back up the allegations he levels against Gulen and offer alternatives, or risk being seen to be imposing on African friends and risking to bilateral relations.


Erdogan no longer represents a country where the ring of cash registers predominates. A series of terrorist attacks has dragged Turkey down to the level of its troubled neighbours. The country bridging Europe and Asia has, in fact, become another Middle East trouble spot.


Relations with Tanzania appear stable. President Magufuli has asked Turkey for loans and investment for the construction of a rail link from Dar es Salaam to Zambia. It will connect Tanzania to Burundi, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The project has been put out to tender and a Turkish construction company has a good chance of clinching the deal. Other donor countries pulled out of Tanzania following a corruption scandal there in 2015.

Erdogan’s seeking markets for the small and medium-sized companies have grown in strength in Turkey under his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). They belong to what is referred to in Turkey as the devout trading class which supports the AKP. Erdogan is looking for a foothold in markets that could become more interesting in the future. The market for Turkey’s construction industry in Africa is promising, albeit totally dwarfed by China’s involvement.

Source: Eyewitness News , January 27, 2017


Related News

Saudi Scholar al-Qarni: Gulen serves with wisdom

One of the most celebrated scholars of Saudi Arabia and the Arab world at large, Sheikh Aaidh al-Qarni delivered sermons on “Tabi’in” (a referral to the people who lived in an age right after the Prophet Muhammad’s companions’ generation) at several salatin mosques (mosques built by Ottoman sultans) in Istanbul, on June 1 thru 9. […]

Whistleblower reveals wiretapping conspiracy to libel Hizmet

According to the letter, a special team was established at the Prime Ministry late last year to conduct psychological warfare, including producing disinformation and false evidence to implicate the Hizmet movement in criminal activity.

The Guardian view on the week in Turkey: coup – and counter-coup?

Now, with the European convention on human rights suspended and a six-month state of emergency that allows President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to rule without parliament – although thousands still turn out nightly in his support – some are beginning to wonder if the cure has turned out to be little better than the original threat.

The Turkish School in Kathmandu made a dream come true

Ahmet Davutoglu the first Turkish foreign secretary who went to Nepal visited Meridian Turkish School. Davutoglu addressed to the students in Turkish school and said that: “My first visit to Nepal was in 1993. If someone had told me that a Turkish school would be opened in Kathmandu, the students in that school would learn […]

Gülen’s lawyers refute justice minister’s statement likening Gülen to Iran’s Khomeini

Lawyers for Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen have said via Twitter that Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ should have provided proof to back up his statement that Gülen planned to return from the US to Turkey in a similar way to Iran’s revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

Why I Asked National Security Adviser to Stop Turkish Espionage on Nigeria

If members of Hizmet have done anything wrong, since they are in Nigeria, the Turkish government, through its embassy here can report them with hard evidence to the Nigerian security service. The fact that they have resorted to underhand tactics means they have nothing credible against these innocent fellows.

Latest News

Fethullah Gulen – man of education, peace and dialogue – passes away

Fethullah Gülen’s Condolence Message for South African Human Rights Defender Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Hizmet Movement Declares Core Values with Unified Voice

Ankara systematically tortures supporters of Gülen movement, Kurds, Turkey Tribunal rapporteurs say

Erdogan possessed by Pharaoh, Herod, Hitler spirits?

Devious Use of International Organizations to Persecute Dissidents Abroad: The Erdogan Case

A “Controlled Coup”: Erdogan’s Contribution to the Autocrats’ Playbook

Why is Turkey’s Erdogan persecuting the Gulen movement?

Purge-victim man sent back to prison over Gulen links despite stage 4 cancer diagnosis

In Case You Missed It

Fethullah Gulen and Gulen Movement discussed in New York

Policeman who fought against putchists arrested while getting treatment at hospital

Gulen movement becoming victim of its own legend

ECtHR rules Bulgaria violated rights of Turkish journalist who was deported despite seeking asylum

Daniel Skubik on Fethullah Gulen and Hizmet Movement

İstanbul woman suffers miscarriage in police custody

Right to dissent in Turkey

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News