Turkey’s Neo-Ottoman Agenda in Africa

Ankara means to become a leading power. Its long-term strategy is starting to bear fruit, at the very moment that France, Russia, and China are reeling.

NOTE: As we have for many years now, we project that Japan, Poland, and Turkey are not only rising regional powers but will play a greater role on the world stage by mid-century than Russia and possibly China. “Sultan” Erdogan is progressing well toward that goal. — RDM

by Ronan Wordsworth
February 17, 2025

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan wants his country to reclaim its status as a major, or at least regional, power. Embodying an ideology often referred to as neo-Ottomanism, he envisions a Turkey that is more powerful in the lands the Ottoman Empire once controlled – not just the Middle East but North and Central Africa too.

This goal will necessarily require the advancement of Ankara’s Islamic worldview to boost its religious credentials. But it will also necessarily bring Turkey into competition with Saudi Arabia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates, all of which have the same ambitions that, crucially, demand greater engagement in Africa.

Put simply, the path toward a neo-Ottoma…