Paper short abstract:

Turkey, through its 'Opening to Africa' initiative, deploys Ottoman history as a soft power tool in the Horn of Africa. challenging the neo-Ottomanism approach, Our paper asserts a strategic narrative choice and reveals a pragmatic use of history for soft power in diplomacy.

Paper long abstract:

Turkey, propelled by its 'Opening to Africa' initiative since 2005, actively fortifies its presence in the Horn of Africa, surpassing traditional economic and diplomatic channels. This paper, cantered on Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Djibouti, examines Turkey's intentional utilization of Ottoman history to exert soft power in the region over the past two decades. In contrast to scholars such as M. Hakan Yavuz (2020) and Osamah Mohammed (2021) who attribute Turkey's invocation of Ottoman history to neo-Ottomanism, arguing an ideological influence, our article posits that Turkey's narrative use of Ottoman history is a strategic and pragmatic choice. Employing qualitative research, we scrutinize official statements by Turkish statesmen during visits to the Horn of Africa and evaluate the restoration of Ottoman historical sites by Turkish institutions to translate rhetoric into tangible realities. Adopting a narrative explanation approach and drawing on Joseph Nye's soft power concept, the study also scrutinizes the strategic deployment of specific Ottoman historical narratives by Turkish statesmen and institutions as soft power tools in the Horn of Africa. This exploration seeks novel insights into Turkey's diplomatic strategy in the region, focusing on the motivation behind the framing of historical narratives.

Keywords: Turkey’s vision of Opening to Africa, Narrativization of Ottoman History, Soft Power, The Horn Africa.