Democratic Republic of the Congo–Turkey relations

Democratic Republic of Congo-Turkey relations

DR Congo	Turkey

Democratic Republic of the Congo–Turkey relations are the foreign relations between the DR Congo and Turkey. Turkey has an embassy in Kinshasa since 1974, and the DR Congo opened its embassy in Ankara in 2011.^[1]

Diplomatic Relations[]

Turkey initially supported Leopold II’s pledge to “civilize” Congo, and recognized Congo Free State after the Berlin Conference in 1885.^[2] This changed quickly after the public outcry in Turkey and other countries over harsh labor practices and atrocities committed against Congolese, who lived in a humiliatingly strict system of segregation, by the Belgians.^[3] King Leopold II of Belgium would go on personally owning the Congo Free State from 1885 to 1908.^[4]

Following independence, Turkey was one of the first to establish diplomatic relations with DR Congo.^[5] Turkey, through mainly TIKA launched many programs, worth US$ 137 million in economic aid during the next 30 years.^[6]

Despite its stance against coups d’état, Turkey quickly recognized the Mobutu Sese Seko government, following the United States on November 24, 1965.^[7] Relations deteriorated when Mobutu broke diplomatic relations with Israel in 1973.^[8] Despite the otherwise unfriendly relations at the time, both governments continued to support the Frente Nacional de Libertação de Angola and the Uniã Nacional para a Independência Total de Angola against the Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola.^[9] Relations improved dramatically in the 2000s.^[10]

Economic Relations[]

• Trade volume between the two countries was 163 million USD in 2015.^[11]
• There are daily direct flights from Istanbul to Kinshasa since 2014.^[12]

Educational Relations[]

• Turkish Maarif Foundation runs schools in DR Congo.^[13]

See also[]

• Foreign relations of the Democratic Republic of Congo
• Foreign relations of Turkey

References[]

Further reading[]

• Collins, Carole. “Fatally Flawed Mediation: Cordier and the Congo Crisis of 1960.” Africa Today 39, no. 3 (1992): pp. 5–22.
• Dayal, Rajeshwar. Mission for Hammarskjöld: The Congo Crisis. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1976.
• Devlin, Larry. Chief of Station, Congo: A Memoir of 1960–67. New York: Public Affairs, 2007.
• De Witte, Ludo. The Assassination of Lumumba. Trans. by Ann Wright and Renée Fenby. New York: Verso, 2003.
• Forbath, Peter. The River Congo: The Discovery, Exploration and Exploitation of the World’s Most Dramatic River. New York: Harper & Row, 1977.
• Galle, Hubert. Le Congo: De la découverte à l’indépendance. Brussels: Éditions J.M. Collet, 1983.
• Gibbs, David N. The Political Economy of Third World Intervention: Mines, Money, and U.S. Policy in the Congo Crisis. Chicago, Ill.: University of Chicago Press, 1991.
• Gondala, C. D. The History of Congo. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2002.
• Grove, Brandon. Behind Embassy Walls: The Life and Times of an American Diplomat. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2005.
• Helmreich, Jonathan E. United States Relations with Belgium and the Congo, 1940–1960. Newark: University of Delaware Press, 1998.
• Hempstone, Smith. Rebels, Mercenaries, and Dividends: The Katanga Story. Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 1962.
• Hoskyns, Catherine. The Congo since Independence: January 1960–December 1961. New York: Oxford University Press, 1965.
• Hoyt, Michael P.E. Captive in the Congo: A Consul’s Return to the Heart of Darkness. Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, 2000.
• Kabuya-Lumuna Sando, C. Histoire du Congo. Les quatre premiers présidents. Kinshasa: Secco and Cedi, 2002.
• Kalb, Madeleine. The Congo Cables: The Cold War in Africa, from Eisenhower to Kennedy. New York: Macmillan, 1982.
• Kalonda, Djessa, J. G. Du Congo prospère au Zaïre en debacle. Paris: Harmattan, 1991.
• Kelley, Sean. America’s Tyrant: The CIA and Mobutu of Zaire. Washington, D.C.: American University Press, 1993.
• Leslie, Winsome J. The World Bank and Structural Transformation in Developing Countries: The Case of Zaïre. Boulder, Colo.: Lynne Rienner, 1987.
• Mabiala Mantuba-Ngoma, P. “La nouvelle histoire du Congo. Mélanges eurafricains offerts à Frans Bontinck, C.I.C.M.” Cahiers Africains 65–66–67 (2004), pp. 1–365.
• Mandjumba Mwanyimi-Mbomba. Chronologie générale de l’histoire du Zaïre: Dès origines à 1988. 2nd ed. Kinshasa: Centre de Recherches Pédagogiques, 1989.
• May, Ernest, and Philip Zelikow, eds. Dealing with Dictators: Dilemmas of U.S. Diplomacy and Intelligence Analysis, 1945–1990. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2007.
• Minter, William. “The Limits of Liberal Africa Policy: Lessons from the Congo Crisis.” Transafrica Forum 2, no. 3 (1984): pp. 27–47.
• Mudingay, M. K. Politiciens contre le développement au Congo-Zaïre. Paris: Harmattan, 2002.
• Muka. Vers le sommet du sport zaïrois et africain. Kinshasa: St. Paul Afrique, 1974.
• Namikas, Lise. Battleground Africa: The Cold War and the Congo Crisis, 1960–65. Doctoral diss. Los Angeles: University of Southern California, 2001.
• Ndaywel è Nziem, Isidore. Histoire générale du Congo: De l’héritage ancien à la République Démocratique. Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium: Duculot, 1997.
• Nzongola-Ntalaja, George. The Congo from Leopold to Kabila: A People’s History. London: Zed, 2002.
• Odom, Thomas. Dragon Operations: Hostage Rescues in the Congo, 1964–65. Ft. Leavenworth, Kan.: Combat Studies Institute, 1988.
• O’Ballance, E. The Congo-Zaïre Experience, 1960–1998. Basingstoke, England: Macmillan, 2000.
• O’Brien, Conor Cruise. To Katanga and Back: A U.N. Case History. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1962.
• Peemans, Jean-Philippe. Le Congo-Zaire au gré du XXe siècle: État, économie société, 1880–1990. Paris: Harmattan, 1997.
• Schatzberg, Michael G. Mobutu or Chaos? The United States and Zaire, 1960–1990. Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, 1991.
• Turner, Thomas. The Congo Wars: Conflict, Myth, and Reality. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007.
• Urquhart, Brian. “The Tragedy of Lumumba.” The New York Review of Books 48, no. 15 (2001).
• Van Horn, Carl. Soldiering for Peace. New York: David Mackay, 1967.
• Verbeek, Léon. Filiation et usurpation: Histoire socio-politique de la région entre Luapula et Copperbelt. Tervuren: MRAC, 1987.
• Wagoner, Fred E. Dragon Rouge: The Rescue of Hostages in the Congo. Washington, D.C.: National Defense Institute, 1980.Weiss, Herbert. Political * Protest in the Congo. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1967.
• Weissman, Stephen R. American Foreign Policy in the Congo, 1960–1964. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1974.
• Wrong, Michela. In the Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz: Living on the Brink of Disaster in Mobutu’s Congo. New York: Harper Collins, 2001.
• Young, Crawford. Politics in the Congo: Decolonization and Independence. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1965.
• Young, Crawford, and Thomas Turner. The Rise and Decline of the Zairean State. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1985.