Recently, Erdogan officially defined Turkey as an "African-Eurasian country."
This is not the first time Erdogan has played this kind of gimmick.
Last December, Erdogan changed his country's name once. He specifically signed a presidential decree changing Turkey's official foreign name from Turkey to Türkiye, on the grounds that it "better reflects the culture, civilization and values of the Turkish nation."
Türkiye means "land of the Turks" and caters to Erdogan's identity as a Turkic descendant.
Just changed "dad", this time changed "place of origin", what is Erdogan's intention?
In those two years, he visited African countries more than any other leader.
The 2021 Turkey-Africa Summit, which attracted 16 African heads of state and more than 100 ministers, underscored Turkey's ambition to expand its influence on the continent.
Deepening defense diplomacy with Africa is an important part of this.
On October 21, 2021, Erdogan, who had just finished a trip to five African countries, declared: "In Africa, wherever they go, they line up to buy Turkish armed drones." ”
Turkey's arms exports to Africa have surged from $41 million in 2020 to $460.6 million in 2021, an astonishing 10-fold increase in one year.
These export equipment include armed drones, attack helicopters, turboprop aircraft, armored vehicles, naval equipment, infantry weapons, surveillance equipment, etc.
Although Turkey's orders for armed drones have been lined up for three years, African countries are still rushing to place orders.
Why do so many African countries turn to Turkey for weapons?
(1) Turkey's weapons and equipment are cheap and good, although they are more expensive than China, but cheaper than the United States and Israel.
(2) An important selling point is that Turkish weapons systems have been battle-tested in Libya, Syria and Nagorno-Karabakh. In these conflict-active areas, it has repeatedly demonstrated impressive capabilities and effectiveness.
Recently, Turkey's TB2 armed drones made a name for themselves again by destroying a large number of Russian armored vehicles in Ukraine.
(3) Fast delivery time. The Turkish defense industry has proven capable of rapid and mass production of weapons systems.
(4) Simple operation and convenient maintenance, which is another feature of Turkish weapons and equipment, which is deeply loved by African countries.
(5) Turkey's arms exports are unconditional and free of red tape.
At present, Turkey has signed military cooperation and defense agreements with most African countries to strengthen personnel exchanges and training with Africa.
Since 2020, Turkey has been training officers from Kenya, Nigeria and other countries.
Turkey enjoys high prestige on the African continent and has a certain relationship with Turkey's membership in NATO. Deepening cooperation with Turkey is "very low diplomatic cost" for African countries.
However, many of Turkey's arms exports are indiscriminate and sold in large quantities to conflict areas or potential hotspots, affecting the stability of these areas.
Turkey's sale of drones to Ethiopia, for example, is believed to have attacked civilians, drawing widespread criticism from the West.