As part of his African tour, the President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will stop in Togo this Wednesday, October 20. There he will meet President Faure Gnassingbé.
The visit of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to Togo this Wednesday, October 20 is the second state visit between the two countries, but it is the first time that the presidents of the two states will meet officially. A visit that comes three months after that of Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, to Lomé on July 20.
Since the opening of the Turkish embassy in Togo last April, relations between Lomé and Ankara have been in good shape. And to underline the arrival of Erdoğan, flags of the two countries were hoisted everywhere in the streets of the Togolese capital, which saw this visit as a real event. So much so that posters of Erdoğan and his Togolese counterpart Faure Gnassingbé are popping up on billboards, with a slogan worthy of a presidential campaign: "Together, a fairer world is possible".
The Gnassingbé dynasty, however, is not really known for its love of equality, justice and fairness. But increasingly isolated diplomatically, the Togolese president takes advantage of this budding love with Turkey to cry out loud and clear that he has a new international partner. One way for "FEG" to shine, after the failure of its attempt at reconciliation with France last April.
Faure, between Turkey ... and Islamophobia
Relations between Togo and Turkey deteriorated in the mid-1980s. Eyadéma Gnassingbé, father of the current president, was re-elected for a third term in 1986. Becoming increasingly authoritarian, Eyadéma had been criticized by the former Turkish President Süleyman Demirel, who accused him of systematically repressing the political opposition, but especially the Muslims of Togo.
We also remember Faure Gnassingbé's propaganda against Islam and Muslims in 2017, during anti-government demonstrations. The leader of the Pan-African National Party (PNP), Tipki Atchadam, a Muslim from northern Togo who denounced the dictatorship of Faure Gnassingbé, had been targeted by the regime in place.
During the PNP demonstrations, slogans also denounced the repression of Muslims in the north-west of the country. In return, Atchadam and his activists had been accused of promoting political Islam, even terrorism. Words that had appealed to Western countries, especially France, for which Gnassingbé sought approval. The charges sidelined Atchadam and his supporters were jailed in 2018.
Are the sins of the father those of the son? Politically, this seems to be the case. According to a senior diplomatic source, Faure Gnassingbé would be "even more Islamophobic, and bloodthirsty, than his father ever was".
France out, Turkey in
For Erdoğan, a presence in Togo is purely geopolitical. Since his failures in the Malian and then Chadian cases, Faure Gnassingbé has been marginalized by France. And while European investments in Togo have stalled, trade with Turkey reached 106 million dollars in 2019 and 184 million in 2020.
Thanks to this economic dynamic, Erdoğan seeks to secure an alliance with Togo. A rapprochement that will guarantee the Turkish leader a foothold in the Gulf of Guinea region. It is also a priority for Erdoğan, who wants, in particular, to undermine French influence in the region. Not to mention that Togo has one of the few deep-water ports in West Africa, ideal for Turkish trade.
The Togolese Minister of Foreign Affairs, Robert Dussey, gave an interview on Tuesday to the Turkish agency Anadolu. Asked about his opinion vis-à-vis and his "Western reconquest of Africa", he referred to the "sovereignty of African countries". "But it is up to each country to freely determine the partners and the types of partnerships which are best suited to its situation and which best preserve its interests, in particular those which can contribute to its development and the well-being of its population" , explains the head of Togolese diplomacy.