TÜRKIYE'S COUNTER-TERRORISM STRATEGY IN AFRICA: A REGIONAL INSTITUTIONALISED GOVERNANCE OF FOREIGN POLICY IN THE LIGHT OF GLOBAL POWER COMPETITIONS

Abstract

Türkiye's African counter-terrorism policy is one of the key instruments of its foreign policy in a post-Cold War multipolar world that has been conceptualised in terms of “regional leadership” in its quest for status on the world political scene. A multidirectional and multidimensional strategy, combining hard and soft power, has thus been embarked upon in a new drive for institutionalised long-term relations through regional and sub-regional governance within the framework of the African Union. The main objective of this study was, therefore, to explore the institutionalised regional governance of Turkish foreign policy and to understand and identify the variables that determine its counter-terrorism strategy in Africa in the context of competition between global powers. Indeed, Turkish counter-terrorism diplomacy is committed to building enhanced institutional bonds with African countries as an important component of its security foreign policy cooperation, which, on one hand, reflects a backdrop of continuing instability on the continent caused by the growing transnational terrorist threat from jihadist groups affiliated to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State. On the other hand, Türkiye's growing security footprint in Africa as a key player, asserting an increasingly active position, is rooted in a perspective of regional rivalry with the rise of emerging countries and the global south as the main alternative adversaries of the West in a region of geostrategic importance for the world's major powers.