The international community's interest may be focused on the wars in Gaza and Ukraine, but there are very important developments taking place in North and Sub-Saharan Africa that will affect the European and more generally Western security system.
Recent developments in Mali and Niger show that the French-speaking African countries in the Sahel are moving away from the sphere of influence of Paris.
The resulting vacuum represents an opportunity for the West's adversaries, particularly China, Russia and Iran, who are increasingly active in promoting their interests in Africa, while Turkey, for its part, is also coming to the fore.
Turkey's 'soft' approach to Africa
"Ankara's foreign policy in Africa is based on a careful balance of soft and hard power.
As Elif Çomoğlu Ülgen, director general for East and Southern Africa at the Turkish Foreign Ministry, explained in a recent panel discussion, the political-cultural opening on the continent has gained momentum with the proliferation of Turkish embassies across Africa and the expansion of airline flights, which now connect Ankara to many African capitals.
In recent decades, Turkey has signed free trade agreements with five African nations, Morocco, Tunisia, Mauritius, Sudan and Egypt.
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From 1980 to 2017, the volume of trade between Turkey and several African countries increased dramatically.
For example, Turkey-Algeria trade tripled, while Turkey-Egypt trade increased fivefold. The improvement in relations was also accompanied by an expansion of efforts to promote Turkish language and culture on the continent.
Today, thousands of African students study at Turkish universities or in the Turkish Cypriot community with the help of Turkish scholarships.
In addition, Turkey's Maarif schools provide Turkish language education to some twenty thousand students in twenty-four African countries.
Turkey's 'hard power'
In addition to the use of soft power, Turkey has developed "hard power" ,in the form of developing defense diplomacy and building military cooperation with African countries.
The positive momentum in Turkey-Africa relations has also led to closer cooperation in the security and military fields, especially in counter-terrorism operations.
As Turkey struggles with its own terrorism problem with the PKK, it can by virtue of experience assist its African partners facing their own challenges from terrorist groups.
Turkish companies have sold armoured vehicles to African countries, and the Turkish government has also donated such vehicles to some countries, resulting in troops in Kenya, Chad and Somalia using them to pursue terrorist groups.
Turkish drones and the defence industry
A growing number of African nations, including Niger and Ethiopia, are deploying Turkish unmanned aerial systems to conduct precision attacks and gather intelligence on terrorist targets.
Several announcements by Turkish officials and improving Turkey-Africa relations suggest that the footprint of the Turkish defense industry on the continent may deepen in the future.
Importantly, unlike some other countries that arm African nations, Turkey's military policy includes a high degree of cooperation, after-sales support and other forms of assistance.
The case of Somalia
In this sense, Ankara is taking its concept of operations to African countries such as Somalia.
In addition to equipping the Somali armed forces with high-tech Turkish weapons systems, Turkey also established a defense university, Camp TURKSOM, in Mogadishu in 2017 to train the Somali army.
Such a university demonstrates that for Turkey and Somalia, their military relations are based on strengthening their joint capabilities (and not just a set of transactions), enhancing Somali security and promoting a common identity for the armed forces of the two nations.
Turkey's non-interventionist policy in African states
Beyond its involvement in counterterrorism and capacity-building efforts in Africa, Ankara's position in recent affairs in the region also differs from that of many other NATO countries.
During the recent political unrest in Niger, while some countries cut off or threatened to cut off humanitarian aid by threatening military intervention, Turkey refrained from making bold moves.
This non-interventionist stance seems closely linked to Ankara's strategic goal of establishing a long-term relationship with Niger and possibly ensuring the continuation of the military-security cooperation agreements signed between Ankara and Niamey (which include the prospect of opening a military base in Niger); protecting Ankara's investments in the country, which depend on its stability.
The methodology of Turkish infiltration
From the above it is clear that Turkey has penetrated Africa for good, following specific steps, such as the construction of mosques and public utility projects initially in order to gain the sympathy of the ordinary people of the target African country, continuing with the development of commercial and economic relations with Turkish investments through companies and concluding with agreements on energy, mining and certainly with agreements on security and defence agreements that include training of the army and the construction of public utilities.
The "best " of course is at the end where Ankara recruits and trains mercenaries for its wars through its private mercenary companies like SADAT from these countries.
We note that the boundaries between these mercenaries and Islamic terrorists are very blurred
The moves of Greece
The above should be of very serious concern to Greece, which, by activating its channels through the Patriarchate of Alexandria and All Africa and our expatriates, should, in the first year, further strengthen its relations (diplomatic-economic-cultural-cultural-military) with like-minded countries of the Black Continent.
Greece, with its small population, needs to establish very close relations with third countries with a large population and a common religion.
Africa is a good place for this, since it has many Christian countries with a large population.
Therefore, as a country we must create the infrastructure to provide friendly human resources from allied countries in case of need.
This requires the activation of similar institutions in the country at religious, diplomatic and economic levels, with the ultimate goal of strengthening fraternal relations leading to a close military alliance, if possible on the lines of Greece-Cyprus relations, and we should seriously consider the creation of a mercenary company that will spread its tentacles in Africa.
The world has become more complex and military operations have become multilateral with the participation of many, many states.
The so-called "national wars" of the past where basically one country fought against another are long gone, with mercenaries increasingly appearing.
For example, in Syria and in the civil war it experienced, but also in Libya, Turkey participated with mercenaries, while in Africa, through SADAT, it is recruiting new recruits alongside the training of the Somali army.
Finally, we should expect that in case of a military Greek-Turkish conflict, the "neighbours" will use, together with their army, regular military forces of friendly countries, primarily from Azerbaijan-Somalia-Pakistan, but also mercenaries from Turkish-speaking countries of the Transcaucasus and from African countries.
What about us?
