Turkey ready to befriend Africa

By Richard Gueli and Oguzhan Kase

Until now, you've probably thought that Turkey isn't that important to South Africa - after all, Turkey is "far away".

Indeed, Turkey's geographic position is significant for Europe, primarily as a bridge between East and West, but not for South Africa. And Turkey's main concerns have to do with its membership of the European Union, not with Africa.

So why bother talking Turkey? First, Turkey has globalised. As a candidate for the EU, it has rapidly modernised and actively promotes its foreign trade.

Second, the Turkish economy is growing at about 7 percent a year and is the 17th largest in the world.

Third, because its geopolitical interests are broadening, Turkey is increasingly looking to the East and South for new friends.

These are all important reasons for Africa to get cosy with Ankara. But how interested is Ankara in Africa? A lot more than you might think. As early as 1998 the Turkish government drafted a plan, called "Opening up to Africa", to intensify its ties with the continent. Then, under the new leadership of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey declared Africa as a priority area for investment in 2005.

As part of this drive, Turkey promised last year to boost its trade volume with Africa, from $12-billion (about R90-billion) in 2006 to $30-billion (R225-billion) by 2010; and in January Erdogan announced that Turkey would open up new embassies in 10 African capitals.

Ferhat Ataman, the outgoing Turkish ambassador to South Africa, explains that Turkey's interest in stronger ties with Africa should prove durable because it is keen to pursue a more "holistic" foreign policy strategy.

Access to Africa's resources, such as oil and industrial raw materials, is another important factor motivating Turkey.

Central to Turkey's Africa plan is South Africa, its largest trade partner in sub-Saharan Africa. Today, relations between the two countries are good, but they weren't always that amicable in the past, explains Tom Wheeler, a former South African ambassador to Turkey and now a research fellow at the South African Institute of International Affairs in Johannesburg.

In a study on Turkish-South Africa relations, Wheeler highlights several factors that dogged relations, including the famous rejection of Nelson Mandela of the Atatark Peace Prize in 1991.

"The Turks," he writes, "could not imagine that anyone would decline an honour that bore the name of the father of their nation."

Indeed, Atatark is to his country what Mandela is to ours.

Relations warmed up again when Jacob Zuma, now the ANC president, visited Turkey in October 2003 - an act meant to symbolise a "new mood" of conciliation. Two years later Erdogan returned the favour, visiting South Africa in March 2005. These visits resulted in the signing of bilateral agreements and helped to improve trade.

Figures from the Turkish Statistics Institute show total trade volumes rose from $449-million in 2003 to $2,5-billion in 2007. And although the balance of trade is heavily in our favour, Turkish exports to South Africa have more than quadrupled since 2003, rising from $121-million to $571-million in 2007.

There are more signs of rapprochement, especially from Turkey's side. Towards the middle of the year, Turkey will send a military attaché to South Africa for the first time. The Turks are apparently enthusiastic about greater defence co-operation with South Africa.

Turkey also plans to engage with South Africa regarding its experiences as a non-permanent member on the United Nations security council. Turkey is a candidate for a seat on the council in 2009.

To boost tourism, Turkish Airlines resumed its Istanbul-Johannesburg-Cape Town route in September (flights were stopped in March 2003). And as of February, South Africans who wish to visit Turkey may acquire visas at Istanbul's international airport for tourist or business purposes for less than 30 days.

Both Turkey and South Africa face a common problem standing in the way of closer relations: lack of information.

"South Africa doesn't know much about Turkey; Turkey doesn't know much about South Africa," remarked Sobizana Mngqikna, also a former South African ambassador to Turkey, before being redeployed for Finland late last year.

Wheeler also spoke about an information gap: "The big problem is indifference, especially in South Africa. Although there's been a change of attitude lately, the government doesn't believe that Turkey is an important trade partner."

For example, since 2000 Turkey has been pushing for a free trade agreement (FTA) with South Africa, but a deal has yet to be finalised. Sealing a deal would be important, because Turkish agreements with other countries, including Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco, have helped to boost bilateral relations and double trade volumes.

Turkey has much to offer South Africa and Africa in general, and because the Turkish way of doing business is different from the way business is done, say, in Washington, Brussels or Beijing. By "different", we mean possibly better.

For a start, Turkish investors are less risk-averse than their western or eastern counterparts. So, Turkish companies, if invited, would be willing to operate in unstable post-conflict regions - and Africa has many of those.

Turkish investments in Africa are growing and are extending beyond raw materials to other areas where infrastructure development is needed. Last year Karsad Tazmen, the Turkish state minister who is in charge of foreign trade, announced that Turkish investments, in sectors such as textiles, transportation, trade and tourism, would rise to $4-billion dollars in the next three years.

The point is that Turkey seems to understand that business, and not charity, is the best way to unleash Africa's untapped wealth - and this, in our opinion, is the way to go.

An enterprising, risk-taking and even-handed partner is what Africa needs and also what South Africa, on many occasions, has shown it wants. Perhaps it's time we took Turkey more seriously than we have up to now.