In one of the articles I wrote after one of my visits to Sudan, where I had the chance to go a few times on a couple of occasions in 2017, I had written the following:
The love of the Sudanese for Turkey, Turks and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in particular, is inexplicable. Showing this at every opportunity, there is no difference between the ruling party and opposition in this regard. The display of love we witnessed is Turkey’s greatest strength. However, unfortunately, it is not possible to say that Turkey has financial assets, diligence and policy symmetrical with this inner power.
As a matter of fact, when you think about it, we can see that Sudan has many of the opportunities, the potential Turkey needs. Turkey had adopted opening to Africa as a strategic policy, but in this opening, it is unable to take enough advantage of Sudan, which is one of the most important centers in terms of logistics, politics and human resources. All this, despite Sudan having opened all its doors and all its opportunities to Turkey.”
President Erdoğan’s Sudan visit was one that the Sudanese have been waiting for years, with both their ruling government and opposition, with longing, with great excitement, to fill the void I explained above.
The ebullient welcoming displayed throughout the journey until reaching the hotel, was an expression of the deepest love. Actually, in the majority of Arab countries, there is a deep love and respect for Turkey and Erdoğan among the public. However, it is not possible to say that the people and administrators in other places feel the same way.
The deep sympathy the people in many Arab countries feel toward Erdoğan is viewed by the administrating elites and nationalist intellectuals with concern, and they do not hesitate to use their media outlets in the ugliest ways possible to deeply shake this love.
Despite this, when Erdoğan is in question, a deep difference is formed between what the media writes and what the public see and feels. What is written in the media is certainly not a representation of what the people in those countries feel. For example, it is said that the majority of Arab media is dominated by the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Yet, it is not possible for Mohammed bin Zayed to confidently mix with the people in any Arab street and walk among them.
Mohammed bin Zayed and his men like Muhammad Dahlan, Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi and Haftar have become the subject of fury and hatred. But Erdoğan is easily able to walk the Arab streets with the guarantee that he will be greeted with complete enthusiasm and a flood of love. While this shows that the new Middle East project the UAE has been trying to create failed from the beginning, it also shows why the UAE has recently been attacking Erdoğan.
However, the more UAE authorities attack Erdoğan, the more they lose; the more their legitimacy in the eyes of their people are rattled, and they are increasingly becoming embedded in the memory and consciences as the “bad guys” of their own people.
Even if this is valid for the entire Arab world, what we saw in Sudan was something else. There, you immediately notice that the rulers and people share the same feelings. Contrary to the image that is trying to be attributed to Sudan from the outside, there is a kind of peace seen in no other Arab country between the people of Sudan and its administrators. The majority of the images of chaos reflected from this country for years were the manifestations of a dirty war carried out with foreign provocations and plots.
Some of the tribes in the non-Muslim South Sudan region, which has oil, were armed and provoked, thus they broke away. This detachment was completed with a separation as a result of the 2011 referendum that 75 percent of the country’s oil would remain on the south side where the Christian minority live.
They tried to play the same game in Darfour, but because South Sudan blew up in their faces, the intensity of the game in Darfour has recently settled down. However, at the end of all these processes, Sudan has always been portrayed as a country of civil war and problems. Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir was sentenced by the U.N. International Criminal Court with an arrest warrant issued in his name. And for two whole decades, Sudan was doomed to live in complete isolation.
Even though inhumane practices of racist discrimination, which continued in the U.S. until the 1960s, ended in its own country, it appears the narcissistic pleasure it takes in oppressing the innocent black race is not over.
As a result of the embargo imposed on Sudan, the country was doomed to poverty, to underdevelopment and deprived of their basic development needs.
The Sudanese leader who was sentenced in disputable courts was used as an excuse, hence punishing the entire nation. As a result of this embargo, Sudan was left behind for many years from the world’s course of development. Many children and adults died during this period as they could not be treated. This U.S.-led embargo only served to punish the innocent.
Today, while the embargo is being lifted, Sudan is a region that is being rediscovered for international companies. It is a complete country of opportunities. The underground resources they have - more than that in the South - was realized only after the separation process. As a matter of fact, the oil on the South side cannot be taken proper advantage of because of the civil war that broke out there later.
Turkey’s interest in Sudan was necessary, first as a humanitarian interest. Even during times of the embargo Turkey’s interest in Sudan continued. It is both because of this and their love for Erdoğan, and of course because of Sudan’s different connection to Turkey since the Ottoman era that interest and investments are expected from Turkey.
President Erdoğan’s long awaited visit to Sudan will open a new horizon for both Sudan and Turkey. In the name of God...
