Turkey’s declaring 2005 as the “Year of Africa” and taking its relationship with Africa, the seeds of which it had sown previously, a stage further had been criticized.
Those directing the criticism, on the one hand, had shut their eyes to the green shoots of revival in this ignored corner, and on the other hand, watched in awe as the Turkey-Africa relationship evolved after 2010 and wanted to carve out a share for themselves.
Our interest in Sub-Saharan Africa, which matched our interest in North Africa, during this period attracted attention. It is no secret that some people were disturbed, in particular by Turkey’s extending a hand to East Africa with an emphasis on humanitarian aid.
In the wake of Turkey appointing its first ambassador to Mogadishu, the United Kingdom, too, appointed an ambassador after a gap of 21 years. The United Kingdom, which sent a delegation at the foreign minister level to Somalia in 2012 for the first time since 1992, also delivered a clear message: “We have common interests with Somalia.”
Of course, it is not just the United Kingdom that has its eyes on Somalia and other East African countries. It is common knowledge that the United States, France and China too are swarming around the area.
In the light of our recent visit to Africa, let us take a look at the situation of the region, which the major powers are trying to take ownership of, and witness how significant Turkey’s efforts are.
2ND FASTEST GROWING REGION IN THE WORLD
Let us look at it from a wide perspective first: Sub-Saharan Africa is the second fastest growing region in the world after Asia. It is not difficult to come across low income countries displaying a growth rate of more than 8 percent in a region, which in recent years has witnessed an average growth of 5-6 percent in Gross Domestic Product. There are even economies, like that of Ethiopia, which have grown by more than 10 percent.
The primary dynamics of this positive picture that has emerged in Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly during the last 10 years, are infrastructure investments and developments in the agricultural sector. The region is expected to continue to witness accelerated growth in the upcoming period as well on the basis of these factors.
We also see that more efficient steps have been taken in regard to telecommunications and water investments in Sub-Saharan Africa. However, the electricity sector is making slow progress. According to World Bank data, 48 Sub-Saharan African countries with a combined population of 1.1 billion generate the same amount of electricity as Spain, which has a population of 47 million.
SERIOUS LACK OF INFRASTRUCTURE
The region, as a result, while displaying significant progress with regard to total investment, needs to tackle the serious lack of infrastructure, particularly in energy and transportation. This reality, aside from the current problems in Sub-Saharan Africa, is also an indicator of the development potential.
We already know about the importance Turkey places on development in the region. This opportunity is also very attractive to rising economies like China and India, whose footprints are widely visible on the continent.
China’s three-fold increase in infrastructure financing in the region between 2007 and 2012, and the rapid rise in its commercial relationships as a result of this provides one of the most significant examples in this context…
SERIOUS LACK OF SECURITY
There is one truth, however, that foils approaches made to Sub-Saharan Africa. That is the lack of security in the region.
Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s remark of “don’t ignore our country because there is terrorism” during President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s visit is an indication of this critical problem, which poses a hurdle to Africa’s future.
Why can’t the region extract itself from chaos?
I think this question should actually be top of the list when examining economic development, which is linked to it.
Each country in the region has different dynamics although similar reasons may lie at the core of it. That is why let us be more specific and focus on the Horn of Africa and Somalia, where bombs went off as a “message to Turkey.”
IMF PROGRAM THAT LED TO FAMINE
As you know, Somalia, which was dragged into a civil war in the early 1990s, was faced with crises of famine both before and after the war. But if you pay attention you will see that the country didn’t really have a foodstuffs problem until the 1970s. So, when we examine how this situation arose, we come across traces of the International Monetary Fund program that started being implemented in the early 1980s.
The program, which entered the country with its slogan of “economic medicine,” made a major contribution to the collapse of the country’s agriculture sector and its dependency on foodstuff imports and aid. The resultant famine and economic collapse created the grounds for the outbreak of war in 1991.
Of course we should add that toward the end of the 1980s, President Siad Barre, who had close ties to the West, allocated a significant portion of the country’s potential oilfields to oil firms from the United States. After Barre was removed from power through war, the United States resorted to the cover of “humanitarian aid and the war against terror” to maintain its presence in the country.
A WESTERN CLASSIC: CLASH ENGINEERING
On the other hand, the United Nations cites war and terrorism in the country as the principal reason for the famine. It cites Al-Shabab’s intervention in the import of foodstuffs and aid as the primary basis for this reasoning… We should recall that Al-Shabab, which took responsibility for the attack during the Turkish visit as well, strengthened its presence as a response to interventions in Somali’s internal affairs.
However, there is plenty of information available that shows the Al-Shabab movement was funded by Saudi Arabia and backed by Western intelligence!
It is another Western classic: The existence of this and similar threats keeps alive the “war against terror” argument propagated by the United States and its allies, thereby enabling them to remain in the region.
Look at George Bush’s creation in 2007 of AFRICOM (United States Africa Command), which keeps a watch over Djibouti and the Horn of Africa, and the tens of thousands of AMISOM (African Union Mission in Somalia) -- which has the backing of the United States and the European Union -- soldiers stalking around in Somalia, the strategic point of the region.
In short, the region, which is rich in natural resources and of high geopolitical value, is being oppressed via “clash engineering” dreamed up by imperialist powers, who resort to excuses such as “pirates at sea and Al-Shabab on land.”
ENERGY AGAIN, CHINA AGAIN
Let me tell you what remains when we move past the few “openly stated” articles about AFRICOM’s mission such as the fight against terror and crime, and the section which is camouflaged as tools rather than aims:
The protection of the region’s natural resources (!) and intervening against China’s growing influence…
There is neither the space, nor the need for me to write anymore.
Just like the Africans say as well: If the snake is in the house, there is no need to draw out the discussion on the topic…
The painful aspect of the issue, however, is that it is not the kind of snake that can be dealt with easily.
(The following paragraphs draw references from a Turkish poem.)
In this dramatic situation, Turkey represents a bright green source of hope for the people of the region in the shape of “a plane tree with compassion in its heart.”
Like the saying that spring rises from graveyards too.
Greetings to the capital of capitals from an ostracized country…
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