Following the decision by Niger’s military government to expel US forces from the country, the withdrawal of US troops serving in the country and the process of moving their equipment has officially begun.

According to the AA report, which cites local sources, US troops are being withdrawn from the country following the termination of the military agreement that allowed military and civilian personnel from the US Department of Defense to serve in Niger. It was learnt that 269 soldiers and tonnes of equipment had been sent to the US in the first phase.

Senior US officials had travelled to Niger in March to ensure that the US would maintain its base in the country despite the suspension of military and development aid to Niger’s coup government. But after three days of waiting, the US delegation left without meeting the country’s military commander, General Abdurrahmane Tchiani, and on 17 March Niger announced the end of the military partnership Washington had come to secure and demanded that US troops leave the country immediately.

It was then announced that the US would leave the country completely by mid-September.

There are around 1000 US troops in Niger. Near the city of Agadez, at the southern end of the Sahara, there is a drone base called ‘Niger Air Base 201’.

Niger 201 is the second largest base in Africa after the permanent base in Djibouti, where the US also conducts drone operations.

Built and funded by the US and owned by the Nigerian army, the base has been operational since 2019 and is equipped with high-tech satellite communications systems.

Niger 201, which is leased from the Niger state for 10 years, is considered the largest and most expensive UAV base in the US.

The US, which spent $110 million on its construction and $30 million on its annual maintenance, uses the base as its main intelligence and surveillance centre in the Sahel.

Foreign Minister Fidan met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. The two foreign ministers held a joint press conference after the meeting. The good relations between Turkey and China will contribute to regional and global peace, prosperity and stability,” Fidan said.

Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan held a delegation meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Beijing as part of his visit to China. Speaking at the joint press conference held after the meeting, Fidan said Turkey and China have overlapping views in many areas of international relations and both countries are committed to a fairer understanding in the international system, adding that good relations between Turkey and China will contribute to regional and global peace, prosperity and stability. Turkey and China share a common understanding on Ukraine,” Fidan added.

Turkey fully supports China’s territorial integrity,” Fidan said, adding, “We are closely following the developments in the Asia-Pacific region and their geopolitical implications. We believe that the challenges in the Asia-Pacific region require effective multilateralism, efforts for constructive dialogue and cooperation based on common priorities.

Fidan stressed that China’s sensitivity on the Palestinian issue is very welcome, saying that they appreciate China’s solidarity with the Palestinians and its strong support for the two-state solution.

Noting the importance of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s call for a comprehensive, competent and effective international peace conference for a solution in Palestine, Fidan said, ‘We will continue to work with China for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Visit to Uighur region

Fidan, who will also visit the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region on Wednesday as part of his visit to China, referred to the cities of Kashgar and Urumqi and said: “These cities also play the role of a bridge between China and the Turkic world and between China and the Islamic world. They are the symbols of our historical friendship and neighbourhood. The unity of societies and peoples is the greatest wealth of strong states. I would like to express that I will be very happy to witness the historical and cultural richness of these regions.

The last high-level visit from Turkey to the region was by President Tayyip Erdoğan, then Prime Minister, in 2012.

Cooperation against Western hegemony

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi stressed that ‘China and Turkey should strengthen cooperation and oppose all forms of hegemony and power politics’.

China and Turkey should strengthen cooperation and intensify efforts to find a just and lasting solution to the Palestinian issue,” Wang Yi added.

Emphasis on upholding the one-China principle and enhancing security cooperation

According to a Chinese statement, Fidan also met with Chinese Vice President Han Zheng on Tuesday. Fidan told Han that Turkey is committed to the one-China principle and ‘will not allow activities in Turkey that harm China’s territorial integrity’, the statement said. Fidan added that Ankara was ready for close high-level exchanges with Beijing.

Fidan had met in Beijing the previous day with Chen Wenqing, a member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the CPC Political and Legal Affairs Commission. According to Chinese state news agency Xinhua, Chen Wenqing told Fidan that in recent years the two presidents, Xi Jinping and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, have reached a consensus on deepening China-Turkey strategic cooperation and drawn up a long-term plan for the development of bilateral relations. Chen noted that China is willing to join hands with Turkey, take the consensus of the two leaders as a guide, promote bilateral security cooperation to a new level, better safeguard the security interests of the two countries, and make the development strategy of the two countries converge.

Harmonisation of the Belt and Road and the Middle Corridor

Minister Fidan also delivered a speech on “Turkey-China Relations in a Changing World Order” at the China and Globalisation Centre think-tank in Beijing the previous day.

In his speech, Fidan said that Turkey’s geo-strategic position and extensive trade relations provide free and easy access to a $28 trillion market with a population of around 1.5 billion, stretching from Europe to the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia.

Fidan also touched on the Caspian Trans-Caspian East-West Central Corridor initiative, which will run from Turkey through the Caucasus, Caspian Sea and Central Asian states to China, in parallel with China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

Noting that the Middle Corridor will shorten the land route between Europe and Asia by 2,000 kilometres and the sea route by 15 days, Fidan said the initiative is in natural harmony with China’s Belt and Road Initiative.

Noting that the Middle Corridor provides uninterrupted and faster access to the Black Sea and Mediterranean basins, as well as Europe and Africa, Fidan recalled that a Memorandum of Understanding was signed with China in 2015 to harmonise the two initiatives and enhance cooperation.

Noting the importance of harmonising the Central Corridor with China’s Belt and Road Initiative, Fidan stressed that the project has become even more important at this time, when the Russian-Ukrainian war continues and the war in Gaza affects the Red Sea, and geopolitical risks are increasing.

Fidan stressed the importance of creating synergies between the Central Corridor and the Belt and Road Initiative with other connectivity projects, such as the Development Road Project, which could link Eurasian economic powerhouses for prosperous regional integration.

‘Of course we want to be a member of BRICS’

Turkey is in a customs union with Brussels but is also exploring new opportunities for cooperation with various partners on different platforms such as BRICS, a group of 10 emerging economies, said Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan.

“Of course we want to become a member of BRICS. We will see how this year goes,” he said.

Fidan also said he was looking forward to attending next week’s meeting of the mechanism in Russia, where BRICS foreign ministers will meet ahead of the October summit in Kazan.

One of the topics on the agenda is expected to be the possibility of NATO ally Turkey joining the BRICS group.

Kazakh President Kassym Jomart Tokayev said at a meeting with the parliamentary leaders of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) countries that his country had removed the Taliban movement from the list of terrorist organisations.

This was done because of the importance of developing trade and economic cooperation with modern Afghanistan and the realisation that this regime is a long-term factor, the Interfax news agency quoted Tokayev as saying.

Last week, the Russian foreign and justice ministries proposed to President Vladimir Putin that the Taliban be removed from the list of proscribed organisations.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the same day that the Taliban was the real power in Afghanistan, a country of particular concern to Russia and its allies in Central Asia.

Putin went on to say that the Taliban currently control the territory of Afghanistan, so Moscow will build relations on the basis of today’s realities.

The Taliban have ruled Afghanistan since August 2021. Its government is not recognised by UN member states, but many, including Russia, are in contact with the organisation.