OTTOMAN DREAMING: THE TURKS HAVE NEW AMBITIONS FOR TRADE AND INFLUENCE IN AFRICA
Economist
March 25 2010
MBOMBO IBRAHIM MOUBARAK, an Islamic cleric who runs Cameroon’s Islamic
humanitarian-assistance programme, has a dream. "Turkey must reclaim
its mantle as leader of the Islamic world," he said on March 17th,
as Abdullah Gul became the first Turkish president to visit Cameroon
and Congo. Mr Moubarak believes that Turkey’s brand of moderate
Islam, which embraces Western-style democracy and the free market,
offers a model for Africa’s Muslims. He sees nothing sinister about
the mosques, madrassas and schools built, restored or run by Sunni
Turks across the continent.
Mr Gul’s African expedition was more about finding new markets than
new converts, which helps to explain the presence of some 140 Turkish
businessmen in his entourage. The economic crisis has hit Turkey’s
trade with the rest of Europe. So the "Anatolian tigers"–small-and
medium-sized entrepreneurs from Turkey’s conservative heartland–are
eyeing opportunities in Africa. And Africans are responding with
enthusiasm. In Yaoundé your correspondent was approached in the loo
of a five-star hotel by a Cameroonian lady saying "I want to sell
timber to Turkey."
The Turks in turn want to sell Africans a range of finished goods,
from washing powder to jeans. Turkish contractors are angling to
build airports, housing and dams. Turkish Airlines now has regular
flights to Addis Ababa, Dakar, Johannesburg, Lagos and Nairobi. Mehmet
Buyukeksi, president of Turkey’s exporters’ association, says that
Turkish exports to Africa have leapt from $1.5 billion in 2001 to over
$10 billion in 2009. "We believe in the future of Africa," he declares.
Turkey cannot hope to match up to the likes of China or India. Yet
Mr Gul believes it has a competitive edge. "We have come here with a
clean slate, with a humanist approach," he says. In fact Egypt, Libya,
Algeria and Sudan were all once part of the Ottoman empire. But farther
south Turkey is on virgin turf. Locals often have bitter memories of
rapacious Western colonialists and Arab slave traders.
This is another reason why Turkish Islam has such appeal–and can be
so good for business.
Ebubekir Keskin, a 37-year-old Turkish businessman who settled in
Douala, Cameroon, three years ago, swaps Turkish-made pasta for
local timber. He says his business model is based on alliances with
local Muslims. "Being Muslim helps big time, soon we will overtake
the Italians," he boasts. His ambitions are bolstered by members of
Turkey’s largest Islamic fraternity, led by a moderate Muslim cleric,
Fetullah Gulen, who lives in America. Gulenists now run 60 schools in
30 African countries. Staffed by locals and Turks alike, the schools
are patronised by the offspring of elites lured by Western standards
of education (if not mandatory Turkish-language classes).
One day Turkey would like political clout in Africa as well. Its
decision to declare 2005 "the year of Africa" was linked to its
ambitions for a seat on the UN Security Council. It duly got one,
with all but one African country voting in its favour. It has opened
or plans 12 new embassies in Africa. Young African diplomats are
being trained in Ankara. Scholarships to Turkish universities were
doled out during Mr Gul’s latest trip.
Turkey’s desire to join the European Union can sometimes complicate
its African ambitions. Faced with EU howls, it had to withdraw a
recent invitation to Sudan’s president, Omar al-Bashir, who has been
indicted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes in Darfur.
Widespread abuses in other African countries that Turkey is wooing
could yet cause further headaches.
Mr Gul is undaunted. "There are many people like us here, the Lebanese
for example," he notes. He might have added Armenians and Greeks too.
But many of these are descendants of Christians who were killed
or deported as the Ottoman empire collapsed, and went on to be big
traders in provincial African towns. Unlike their fellow Africans,
their feelings for Turkey may not be warm.
aystory.cfm?story_id=15772860