Turkish drones in Ethiopia tilt the scales of war

Turkish drones in Ethiopia tilt the scales of war Turkish officials have insisted that selling drones was a purely commercial activity.

Turkey, along with Iran and the United Arab Emirates, has been supplying Ethiopian Prime Minister Abi Ahmed with drones for months, adding Ethiopia to the list of UAV-affected international conflicts, the New York Times reported. Monday.

After Turkish Bayraktar drones recently appeared in Ethiopia, Turkish officials insisted that selling the drone was a purely commercial activity.

However, UAVs are attractive in many African countries looking for battle-tested, relatively inexpensive material.

In August, Ahmed signed a military agreement with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, which includes Turkey’s tacit support for the Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF) and its counter-insurgency efforts in Tigray.

In Ethiopia, a year-long conflict in which the federal government faces forces led by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), a political group that has dominated Ethiopia’s highly repressive government for nearly 30 years, has left thousands dead. over two million displaced. Meanwhile, parts of the country are facing famine.

Reuters in October reported that Ethiopia was in the process of acquiring an unspecified number of Turkish drones, but has not yet completed the sale. Turkish and Ethiopian officials have not yet confirmed the agreement, the agency said.

“Ethiopia can buy these drones from anyone it wants,” a Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman said in October, according to the France24 news website, which neither confirmed nor denied the sales.

“Even in Africa, wherever I go, they want UAVs,” the article quoted Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as saying in October after a tour in Nigeria, Togo and Angola.

However, Turkish officials privately claimed that they had frozen exports to an East African country, according to the NY Times, in response to international pressure for the ongoing civil war.

Meanwhile, Ahmed landed in Istanbul on Friday for the Turkey-Africa Partnership Summit, a two-day gathering of leaders from 39 African countries that analysts say serves as a platform for Turkish arms sales, the NY Times reported.

Petros Kranias

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