Southern Opening: Turkish Soft Power in Sub-Saharan Africa

This article discusses the Sub-Saharan relations of Türkiye from 2002 until 2016 from a political, economic and cultural point of view. The focus is on the performance of Turkish institutions on African ground, assessing not only governmental but humanitarian and public initiatives as well. The non-governmental factors are crucial in understanding Turkish African policy: the so-called Anatolian tigers and their associations connected with the Justice and Development Party and outside the scope of traditional state diplomacy exerted their influence on the political activity of Türkiye in general and in Africa, in particular. This new middle class formed the most important social and economic motivations behind Türkiye’s opening to Africa, creating space for public diplomacy and thus contributing to the democratisation of Turkish foreign policy.