{"id":57072,"date":"2025-11-11T18:40:30","date_gmt":"2025-11-11T15:40:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/?p=57072"},"modified":"2025-11-11T18:40:30","modified_gmt":"2025-11-11T15:40:30","slug":"is-turkey-playing-both-sides-in-sudans-civil-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/11\/is-turkey-playing-both-sides-in-sudans-civil-war\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Turkey Playing Both Sides in Sudan\u2019s Civil War?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sudan Events \u2013 Agencies<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ankara\u2019s entanglement in Sudan\u2019s conflict reveals a foreign policy stripped of moral compass\u2014one willing to ignore international sanctions aimed at curbing the ongoing bloodshed.<\/p>\n

A recent Washington Post investigation uncovered that Turkish arms manufacturers have been supplying weapons to both the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and, possibly, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF)\u2014a militia accused by the United States of committing genocide and severe human rights violations during Sudan\u2019s civil war.<\/p>\n

The report details how Baykar, Turkey\u2019s leading defense company\u2014owned by President Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan\u2019s son-in-law, Sel\u00e7uk Bayraktar\u2014sold offensive weapons to the Defense Industries System (DIS), the procurement agency for the Sudanese army. Baykar\u2019s shipments to Sudan\u2019s military appear to violate existing U.S. and EU sanctions.<\/p>\n

According to the report, Baykar\u2019s deal with the Sudanese army, valued at $120 million, included six TB2 drones, three ground control stations, and 600 warheads in 2023. Remarkably, the contract was signed on November 16, 2023, five months after the U.S. Treasury imposed sanctions on DIS.<\/p>\n

The Washington Post also cited evidence of extensive communication between another Turkish firm, Arca Defense, and Gen. Hamidti Musa, the RSF\u2019s procurement chief and brother of RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (Hamidti). Although Arca Defense denied selling weapons to the RSF, the claim remains unverified.<\/p>\n

Sudan\u2019s Civil War<\/strong><\/p>\n

The conflict erupted in April 2023 after tensions escalated between army chief Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (Hamidti)\u2014former allies who together led the 2021 coup that toppled Sudan\u2019s post-Bashir transitional government. The dispute over integrating the RSF into the national army ignited full-scale war.<\/p>\n

The conflict has since evolved into a humanitarian catastrophe. A UN fact-finding mission concluded in September 2024 that both sides committed \u201cshocking and heinous violations,\u201d including mass rape, arbitrary detention, and torture.
\nHalf of Sudan\u2019s population now requires humanitarian assistance, with 25 million people facing acute food insecurity, and Washington estimates the death toll at 150,000.<\/p>\n

A Battlefield for Regional Powers<\/p>\n

The war\u2019s persistence is fueled by extensive foreign involvement:<\/p>\n

Egypt and Saudi Arabia are the main backers of the Sudanese army.<\/p>\n

Iran has allegedly supplied drones that bolstered the army\u2019s recent advances.<\/p>\n

The United Arab Emirates is the RSF\u2019s primary supporter\u2014justifying its role by branding the army as \u201caligned with the Muslim Brotherhood.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Sudan Conflict Observatory confirmed with \u201chigh confidence\u201d that 32 cargo flights delivered weapons from the UAE to the RSF between June 2023 and May 2024.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, several countries are vying for control over the strategic Red Sea coast. In February 2025, Moscow and Khartoum announced an agreement to establish a Russian naval base in Port Sudan.<\/p>\n

Turkey\u2019s Interests<\/strong><\/p>\n

President Erdo\u011fan has long sought to expand Turkey\u2019s influence in the Horn of Africa. In December 2024, he reportedly called Gen. Burhan, offering to \u201cmediate\u201d between Sudan and the UAE.<\/p>\n

Turkey has also:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Strengthened its military presence in Somalia, gaining gas exploration rights.<\/p>\n

Signed a uranium mining deal with Niger, sparking speculation over long-term nuclear ambitions.<\/p>\n

Analysts argue that Turkey\u2019s actions in Africa reflect its ambition to build strategic autonomy from the West and expand its military and geopolitical footprint.<\/p>\n

Ankara\u2019s Values-Free Diplomacy<\/strong><\/p>\n

The authors contend that Turkey\u2019s behavior in Sudan epitomizes a foreign policy devoid of principle, willing to flout international sanctions when convenient.
\nThey note this is not an isolated case: Erdo\u011fan has<\/p>\n

Blocked Russian warships from the Bosphorus as a NATO member,<\/p>\n

Yet simultaneously enabled Russian oligarchs to move funds through Turkish banks and sold dual-use equipment that indirectly supports Moscow\u2019s war in Ukraine.<\/p>\n

The report also references the private Turkish security firm \u201cSADAT,\u201d founded in 2012 by Islamist-leaning generals led by Adnan Tanr\u0131verdi, a close Erdo\u011fan ally. SADAT has provided training and logistical support to Islamist-aligned groups in Libya, Azerbaijan, West Africa, Syria, and Iraq.<\/p>\n

A Warning to the West<\/strong><\/p>\n

The authors caution the United States and Europe against relying on Turkey as a partner in countering Russia.
\nDespite recent calls by some European leaders to reintegrate Turkey into the European fold and revive its EU accession bid, they question: \u201cWhat makes them believe Turkey would truly stand with Europe?\u201d<\/p>\n

This article was written by Sinan Ciddi, Senior Nonresident Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), and Sophia Eble, Research Intern at FDD and student at Georgetown University\u2019s School of Foreign Service.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sudan Events \u2013 Agencies Ankara\u2019s entanglement in Sudan\u2019s conflict reveals a foreign policy stripped of moral compass\u2014one willing to ignore international sanctions aimed at curbing the ongoing bloodshed. A recent Washington Post investigation uncovered that Turkish arms manufacturers have been supplying weapons to both the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and, possibly, the Rapid Support Forces …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":57073,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57072","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57072","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57072"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57072\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57074,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57072\/revisions\/57074"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}