The Role of Turkey as a European Union Security Player in Africa

Abstract

Turkey’s current role as international mediator tempers the year 2020 with repeated crises, and the multiplication of misapprehensions with France and Greece. Therefore, as tensions gradually erupted between Turkey and the European Union (EU), this article through the retrospective of partnerships in the African space, highlights evidence of the advantages that the integration of Turkey in its area or more targeted and consensual policies could confer to the EU. The paper expounds on the new model of cooperation within the discipline of security studies; it merges the institutional approach and the triangular cooperation framework in illustrating Turkey and EU foreign policy towards Africa. The work fundamentally explains the transformation of Ankara and European Union’s security policies within Africa. It notes that the change from the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) to European Security and Defense Policy (ESDP) and later on to Common Security and Defense Policy (CSDP) provides a new synergy for cooperation among the three actors. Therefore without being an EU member, this model legitimately provided Turkey with a kind of de facto membership and consequently grants them with the latitude to engage in EU’s security policy.