Turkish Sadat growing in Africa

Turkey’s expanding influence in Africa mirrors Russia’s use of private military companies and resource-driven diplomacy, but unlike Russia, Turkey presents two advantages. Turkey’s political stance allows African states to obtain modern weapons without having to align with major powers. This preserves their national sovereignty, making Turkey the “third way” in the game of the great powers. Secondly, Turkey’s operations are supported by ideological and religious arguments: i.e. Islam, the dominant religion in the Sahel, where Turkey has concentrated its African engagement.

Turkey’s military influence in Africa is rapidly expanding, with approximately 6.000 military personnel deployed in Somalia, Niger, and Libya. This figure is three times the size of France’s regional forces, underscoring the significant scale of Turkey’s operations. At the forefront of this expansion is SADAT (International Defense Consultancy Construction Industry and Trade Inc.; Uluslararası Savunma Danışmanlık İnşaat Sanayi ve Ticaret A.Ş.), a private military company founded in 2012 by former Erdogan military advisor Adnan Tanrıverdi and now led by his son. Turkey is not a party to agreements or codes of conduct seeking to regulate mercenaries.

Often likened to US Triple Canopy or Russia’s actual Afrikansky Korpus, SADAT operates across Africa, Afghanistan, the Caucasus, and the Balkans, providing training, logistics, and weapons under a mission to support Muslim countries and protect Turkish minorities. Many of its fighters are recruited from the Syrian National Army (SNA), which has strong ties to the Turkish and US backed Sultan Murad Division (a Syrian Turkmen regiment-sized rebel group).

Wherever Turkish foreign policy has developed an interest, SADAT has been present. This interest is often tied to natural resources, a key driver of Turkey’s international engagements. With a domestic energy production of only 25% as of 2022, Turkey has joined the global competition for the extraction of uranium in Africa, particularly in Niger, one of the world’s largest producers of this natural resource. In early 2024, Niger’s Prime Minister visited Ankara, followed by a high-level Turkish delegation to Niamey in July. The discussions centred on boosting trade, defence cooperation, intelligence sharing, and securing Turkish access to Niger’s mining and energy resources, especially uranium and oil.

Besides supporting the junta in counterterrorism operations against Boko Haram and securing borders with Mali and Burkina Faso, SADAT forces have been deploying to protect the exploration and development of mineral and energy deposits as well as joint ventures and infrastructure projects, such as the Niamey International Airport, managed by Turkish firm Summa.

We can expect an expanding presence of SADAT forces in Africa, as their operations play a key role in advancing Turkey’s geopolitical ambitions. This is likely to occur primarily in countries where Turkey already has military trainers and advisors, as well as in those that have signed security cooperation agreements with Ankara (see the map). In particular new presences are signalled in Chad, Togo and Sudan (apparently supporting both sides of the war).

While SADAT provides various services, including regime security, bodyguarding, training, and counterterrorism operations, the Turkish government benefits from resource extraction agreements with host nations in return. Additionally, deploying Syrian fighters abroad serves as a crucial pressure release for armed groups that might otherwise pose challenges for the governments in Syria or Turkey. The religious dimension of SADAT’s mission also enhances its appeal to countries in the Sahel, as it fosters collaboration among Muslim nations in military efforts, thereby strengthening intra-Muslim solidarity in the region.