Turkey’s Africa policies blend hard, soft power
Turkey’s humanitarian initiatives in Africa are complemented by business and strategic policies as well.
The Turkish government's obsession with becoming a global power is providing a study in contrasts: While Turkey has been using civilian planes to transport weapons to Nigeria, it also is employing navy combat vessels to hand out humanitarian assistance in Africa.
Although confirmation by the Nigerian navy of the admission (in a phone call) by two senior Turkish officials that Turkish Airlines had been transporting weapons to Nigeria got lost in the election pandemonium at home, it was enough to generate misgivings in Africa of what kind of a mission Turkey was pursuing.
