{"id":92041,"date":"2026-02-19T00:20:16","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T00:20:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/92041\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T00:20:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T00:20:16","slug":"turkey-deepens-ethiopia-ties-with-energy-deals-amid-regional-tensions-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/92041\/","title":{"rendered":"Turkey deepens Ethiopia ties with energy deals amid regional tensions"},"content":{"rendered":"

The visit came during a regional tour that also took the Turkish president to Saudi Arabia and Egypt. In Ethiopia, the trip marked the 100th anniversary of the establishment of official diplomatic relations between Ankara<\/a> and Addis Ababa<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Erdogan was welcomed on Tuesday with cavalry, a brass band, a military parade and a reception at the newly renovated National Palace, the former imperial residence of Haile Selassie<\/a>,\u00a0Ethiopia\u2019s last emperor.<\/p>\n

The ceremony underlined the importance Ethiopia places on the visit, the first by the Turkish president in more than a decade.<\/p>\n

Abiy said the two leaders held in-depth discussions to relaunch economic and security cooperation between their countries, as tensions remain high between Ethiopia and Eritrea<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Writing on his X account, Abiy described the relationship as \u201clasting friendship\u201d and \u201csolid cooperation\u201d.<\/p>\n

Somalia becomes a flashpoint in Turkey’s rivalry with Israel<\/a><\/p>\n

Energy push<\/p>\n

The two leaders signed two major economic agreements, particularly in the energy sector.<\/p>\n

\u201cTurkey is trying to position itself as a strategic partner for Ethiopia, particularly in hydroelectric energy, where Ankara emphasises its expertise and know-how,\u201d Federico Donelli, professor of international relations at the University of Trieste, told RFI.<\/p>\n

The opportunity is greater because Ethiopia wants to develop the sector beyond the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, he added.<\/p>\n

With nearly two and a half billion dollars invested in Ethiopia in 2025, Turkey is the second-largest foreign investor in the country after China<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ethiopia demands Eritrea ‘immediately withdraw’ troops from its territory<\/a><\/p>\n

Drones question<\/p>\n

The visit took place as tensions are rising again between Ethiopia and Eritrea, raising questions about the security side of cooperation.<\/p>\n

During the 2021 war in the Tigray<\/a> region of northern Ethiopia, which pitted federal forces against Tigrayan fighters, the Ethiopian government acquired Turkish drones.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince the war in Tigray, the Turkish government has been providing manpower as well as drone accessories to the Ethiopian government,\u201d independent researcher Esayas Bamlack Bishaw, a specialist in Turkish-Ethiopian relations, said.<\/p>\n

Ethiopia is facing a conflict in Oromia<\/a>, another in the Amhara region and a separate, latent one with Tigrayan forces.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is clear that the Ethiopian government is trying to obtain weapons from Turkey,\u201d Bishaw added.<\/p>\n

According to Erdogan, countries in the region should resolve their problems among themselves so they do not become \u201can arena for foreign powers\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Turkish president also criticised Israel\u2019s recognition of Somaliland<\/a> in December, saying the move \u201cwould benefit neither Somaliland nor the Horn of Africa\u201d.<\/p>\n

His remarks came as Ethiopia maintains close relations with the breakaway Somali region.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The visit came during a regional tour that also took the Turkish president to Saudi Arabia and Egypt.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":92042,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[65,15479,34908,25506,32795,48745],"class_list":{"0":"post-92041","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ethiopia","8":"tag-ethiopia","9":"tag-ethiopia-and-eritrea","10":"tag-ethiopian-government","11":"tag-security-cooperation","12":"tag-tigray","13":"tag-turkish-president"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@africa\/116094436871766736","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92041"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92041\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/92042"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}