Theme: The Past, Present, and Future of Multi-dimensional East Africa-Turkiye Relationship

Turkiye-Africa relations had gained substantial momentum since the declaration of Turkiye as a strategic partner of the Continent by the African Union in January 2008. Turkiye had further boosted the relation by designing a comprehensive and multilayered Africa Policy in 2013. Turkiye’s engagement in Africa’s economic and political endeavors was more than just another country making inroads into Africa. While Turks had a relatively long history of involvement in Africa, the new engagement was proactive and had delivered promising results in a very short time, particularly in terms of economic indicators. Currently, both Turkiye and African countries benefited from this relation not only in economic and political terms, but also Africa gained aid, investment, humanitarian assistance, and education. Scholarship opportunities offered by the Turkiye government had played a paramount role in supporting human resource development and technology transfer, among others, highlighting Turkiye’s special interest in truly building Africa. Turkiye’s relation with East Africa, particularly, dated back to the Ottoman Empire time, which had a presence in present-day Ethiopia and Somalia. Understanding the historical and ongoing relationship between Africa and Turkiye, and to further strengthen it, Oda Research and Development Association (ORDA) organized a scientific conference on the theme: East Africa-Turkiye Multi-dimensional relationship: past, present, and future. We believed a conference of this kind would be of paramount importance to enhance the relationship between Africa and Turkiye. The conference date was conducted on March 13-14, 2021.