Erdoan becomes first Turkish leader to visit 23 African countries – Yeni afak English

President Recep Tayyip Erdoan became the first leader in the history of the Republic of Turkey to visit 23 African countries.

As both Prime Minister and President, Erdoan embarked on 39 trips to Africa, visiting 23 countries.

Including last week's visit to Tanzania, Mozambique and Magdagascar, President Erdoan became among the world leaders with most visits to Africa.

Turkey's recent diplomatic efforts in the continent led to Erdoan giving the most momentum to the effort aimed at opening up to Africa.

While visiting these countries, President Erdoan met with political and business leaders, signing a large number of mutual agreements between Turkey and African countries.

The number of Turkey's diplomatic missions in the continent also expanded as the number of embassies increased from 12 in 2009 to 39 today.

Turkey and Madagascar have signed four agreements on diplomacy, economy and aid as part of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's last stop in the southeast African tour. The signing ceremony took place Wednesday at the presidential palace in the capital city, Antananarivo, where Erdogan met his Malagasy counterpart President Hery Rajaonarimampianina.President Erdoan paying visit to Madagascar Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu also signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation and consultation between the ministries of foreign affairs of Turkey and Madagascar. Cavusoglu also signed a memorandum of understanding on diplomatic training, information and document exchange. Turkish Minister of Economy Nihat Zeybekci signed a protocol on the application of aid between the two countries. Also, Turkish Radio and Television Corporation Director General Senol Goka signed a cooperation protocol between his organization and Madagascar's Radio and Television Authority. Erdogan and his delegation were in Tanzania and Mozambique before they came to Madagascar.

'Most visited country is Egypt'

In addition to being the first African country he visited in 2004, Egypt is also the African nation most visited by President Erdoan, followed by Algeria, Tunisia and Ethiopia.

With the exception of the year 2008, President Erdoan traveled to Africa at least once yearly since 2005.

In the years 2009, 2010 and 2011, Erdoan embarked on trips to Egypt, Libya, Somalia, Tunisia and South Africa.

In the years 2012 and 2013, the President visited Egypt, Gabon, Nigeria Senegal, Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia.

'Most number of visits to Africa was in 2016'

During his term as President, Erdoan embarked on several trips, visting Algeria and the Republic of Equatorial Guinea in 2014.

During his visits to East African states in 2015, Erdoan traveled to Somalia, Djibouti and Ethiopia. He embarked on a trip to 8 African countries in 2016, the year he visited the African continent the most. Countries included in the official visit were Senegal, Kenya, Uganda, Guinea, Nigeria and Ghana.

In the context of his latest visit to Africa, which took place between 22-26 January, President Erdoan embarked on an official trip to Tanzania, Mozambique and Madagascar, raising the number of African countries visited to 23.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrived in Ankara early Thursday after a five-day visit to Africa. Erdogan was welcomed by Ankara Gov. Ercan Topaca and city Gov. Melih Gokcek at Esenboga Airport. The president and a delegation traveled to Tanzania, Mozambique and Madagascar where he signed a number of economic and trade deals. The trip followed an earlier visit to the African continent last year where the Turkish president traveled to the Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria, Guinea, Kenya and Uganda in 2016.

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Erdoan becomes first Turkish leader to visit 23 African countries - Yeni afak English

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