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Turkiye Holds Critical Meetings with Niger
17 Jul 2024, 09:50 3 mins

Bilateral Relations Regional / Strategy
Turkiye Holds Critical Meetings with Niger
Turkiye’s and Niger’s delegations met in Niamey in Joint Working Meeting Chaired by Prime Minister Zeine to discuss bilateral relations and development in the Sahel region. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan participated in a joint working meeting in Niger on Wednesday under the leadership of Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Ali Mahamane Lamine Zeine. Minister Fidan has also met with General Abdourahamane Tiani, President of the National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland and Head of State of Niger, in Niamey.




In a message published on X, the Turkish Foreign Ministry indicated that “Minister Hakan Fidan, accompanied by Minister of National Defence Minister Yasar Güler, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar. Turkish Intelligence MIT President Ibrahim Kalin, Secretary of Defence Industry Haluk Görgün and Deputy Trade Minister Özgür Volkan Ağar participated in the joint working meeting held in Niamey under the chairmanship of Nigerien Prime Minister Ali Mahamane Lamine Zeine.” Turkish diplomatic sources reported that bilateral political and economic relations, the steps that can be taken to strengthen and diversify cooperation in this context, current developments in the Sahel region, and regional issues, especially the Israeli-Palestinian issue, were on the agenda.



With the officials present in the Turkish delegation and the developments during the first half of the year in mind, it is understood that further defence cooperation has been discussed. Niger’s Prime Minister Zeine made a visit to Turkish defence firms including TUSAŞ (Niger is a user of HÜRKUŞ’s light attack configuration), Nurol Makina (A deal was signed for Ejder Yalçın 4x4 armoured vehicles), and ROKETSAN (Supplies MAM-L and likely other munitions for HÜRKUŞ and Bayraktar TB2 Armed UAVs). Similarly, in Burkina Faso’s case, Niger is one of the African countries that set out to drive out Western presence within its borders.

Both France and the U.S. have recently retreated from the country militarily. Once again, like Burkina Faso, Niger has moved towards alignment with Turkiye, Russia, and China. However, Turkiye has the difference of being in the middle ground politically as a NATO member and at the same time being less strict about exports, particularly in defence equipment, which has drawn interest from other countries as well.

https://turdef.com/article/turkiye-holds...with-niger