A Founding Role in Türkiye's Africa Policy: The Action Plan for Opening to Africa

In: Insight Turkey, Band 25, Heft Summer 2023, S. 223-240

Abstract

In direct proportion to the development of Türkiye's relations with Africa, the number of studies on bilateral relations is also increasing. However, the Action Plan for Opening to Africa, which was prepared in 1998, is a milestone in Türkiye's relations with Africa and has not been examined specifically and in-depth. This study aims to examine all aspects of the Action Plan for Opening to Africa, which plays a founding role in Türkiye's Africa policy. In this context, the focus is on the content of the plan, the internal and external developments that brought it about, and the role of foreign policymakers who put these developments through the filter of their perception. To guide the analysis of these issues focused on in the study, role theory and documentary source screening based on Ministry of Foreign Affairs sources were used to examine the Action Plan. As a result of the study, it has been observed that the systemic conditions affecting Turkish foreign policy after the Cold War and the Action Plan put forward as a visionary foreign policy step by İsmail Cem, who served as the foreign minister, especially under the conditions of coalition governments, played a founding role in Türkiye's relations with the continent.