Turkey's Geopolitical interests in Sudan

Abstract

The subject of the study is Turkish–Sudanese relations at the present stage, the object is Turkey's foreign policy strategy. The aim of the work is to identify Ankara's geopolitical goals in Sudan after the conclusion of the Suakin Island lease agreement in 2017 and to analyze the state of bilateral relations after the overthrow of Sudanese President Omar al–Bashir in 2019. Turning to primary sources, the study shows that Turkey's foreign policy in Sudan is a logical continuation of the policy of neo-Ottomanism and pan-Islamism. An analysis of political events in the region reveals that Ankara needs to consolidate in Sudan in order to weaken the positions of the President of Egypt, A. F. Al–Sisi. It is determined that in the case of the creation of a military base on the island of Suakin, near the Suez Canal, Ankara gets access to four of the seven most vulnerable logistics hubs of the World Ocean at once. In the Russian literature, this topic has been studied only in certain aspects, without a comprehensive analytical generalization, which determines the novelty of this work. The establishment of a new government in Sudan in December 2019, loyal to Saudi Arabia and Egypt, meant that Ankara's foreign policy course in Khartoum did not justify itself. A comparison of Turkey's foreign policy strategy in Somalia and Sudan reveals Ankara's main miscalculation – insufficient use of "soft power" tools. Nevertheless, in the Program of the Foreign Policy of the Republic of Turkey for 2021, Sudan is given a separate place among potential partners. It is concluded that despite the obvious political miscalculation, Ankara still intends to promote relations with Khartoum and pursue its geopolitical interests. Consequently, East Africa and the Red Sea region play a significant role in Turkey's foreign policy. It is necessary to take this factor into account when studying and forecasting Ankara's foreign policy on the world stage.