Drones for Dirt: Turkey's Arms Footprint in West Africa
Turkey has significantly expanded its military influence in West Africa by supplying Bayraktar drones and other hardware to numerous nations in the Sahel and coastal regions. This strategic push follows the withdrawal of French forces, positioning Ankara as a key security partner through arms sales and defense agreements.
Why it matters
The shift in military partnerships alters the regional security architecture of West Africa and highlights Turkey's growing role as a major global arms exporter.
Across West Africa's Sahelian belt and coastal states alike, Turkish weapons, principally Baykar's Bayraktar drones, have become a defining feature of the region's security architecture. As France's military presence collapsed in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger following the 2024 troop withdrawals, Ankara moved quickly to fill the vacuum, combining no-strings-attached arms sales with deepening economic and resource access. The result is a security relationship that now touches nearly every conflict-affected country in the sub region.
The article provides a factual overview of geopolitical shifts and military hardware deployment without taking a moral stance on the arms trade.
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