What Are Turkish Syrian-Sourced Mercenaries Doing In Niger?

Objectively speaking, Niger seems interested in broadening its number of non-Western security partners, which is being done in this case by allowing its Turkish partner’s Syrian-sourced mercenaries to protect their country’s resource investments there.

No sooner had the news broke that the US was disgracefully kicked out of Niger and its forces there replaced with Russian ones than it was reported that Turkish mercenaries from the SADAT Intelligence Defense Consultancy have been active there since shortly after last summer’s patriotic military coup. Top Russian Telegram channel Rybar, which has over 1.2 million subscribers and also doubles as a think tank of sorts, tweeted critically about this on their English-language account here.

They referenced Russia’s African Corps earlier hinting that Turkiye wasn’t welcome there, especially since the abovementioned report claimed that they recruited Syrian mercenaries from the Ankara-controlled part of that Arab Republic, with Rybar opining that they’re functioning as de facto Western proxies. In order to better understand whether this assessment is sound or not, it’s worthwhile reviewing a few background briefings to bring readers up to speed about this subject in case they aren’t already:

* 15 February 2023: “Russia’s Newfound Appeal To African Countries Is Actually Quite Easy To Explain”

* 8 May 2023: “American Officials Told Politico Their Plan For Waging Hybrid War Against Wagner In Africa”

* 30 January 2024: “Nigeria Is To Blame For The Sahelian Confederation’s Withdrawal From ECOWAS”

* 13 April 2024: “The Arrival Of Russian Troops In Niger Will Reshape The US’ Regional Calculations”

* 4 May 2024: “Reuters Revealed The Reason Why Niger Asked American Troops To Leave The Country”

In sum, patriotic members of the armed forces overthrew their pro-Western puppet regime last summer, after which they comprehensively expanded relations with neighboring anti-imperialist Mali and Burkina Faso as well as doing the same with those two’s shared Russian partner. Moscow’s military aid to all three can be described as “Democratic Security” in the sense that it safeguards national democracies from externally exacerbated Hybrid War threats that usually exploit preexisting identity conflicts.

The US is now expected to join France in ramping up Hybrid War operations against the newly formed Sahelian Alliance/Confederation after American troops were just kicked out of Niger for disrespecting their hosts. Turkiye, however, is unlikely to play any role in these predictably forthcoming campaigns since its mercenaries are invited into Niger by its military authorities. Unlike the US and France, they respect their hosts and are focused solely on securing Turkiye’s investments there.

Rybar opined that this is “purely selfish”, though it’s admittedly sensible and indisputably being done with the approval of the new Nigerien government, not unilaterally or behind its back. Everyone is entitled to their opinion about whatever it may be, but it’s important not to inadvertently disrespect one’s partners like Rybar is unintentionally doing with Russia’s Nigerien one by implying that they don’t understand their own security interests or might even be secretly co-opted by the West via Turkiye.

Objectively speaking, Niger seems interested in broadening its number of non-Western security partners, which is being done in this case by allowing its Turkish partner’s Syrian-sourced mercenaries to protect their country’s resource investments there. This is a wise decision since France and now the US might attack them by proxy in order to sow the seeds of discord between them with the intent of maximally isolating the new Nigerien government.

Furthermore, it’s unrealistic to expect Niger to request that Russia’s African Corps protect another country’s investments, nor would the latter likely agree to do so even if they were asked. Not only that, but the latest report claims that these Syrian mercenaries have been in the country since August, thus meaning that their deployment there precedes the African Corps’ by approximately eight months. This is further evidence that the new Nigerien government didn’t rush into Russia’s arms like the West claimed.

Rather, they were apparently reluctant to do so and only eventually decided upon this course of action after weighing the pros and cons, but hoping that they could still retain American troops too. Instead, Reuters let slip that the US disrespected them by saying that their troops couldn’t be at the same base as Russia’s, after which Niger responded by simply kicking them out of the country. The new Prime Minister later confirmed this sequence of events in an exclusive interview with the Washington Post here.

Had the US acceded to letting its troops remain at the same base as Russia’s, albeit in a different hanger or at least voluntarily withdrew them to its northern Sahelian outpost where Moscow’s weren’t deployed, then Niger would have hosted both of them plus Turkish mercenaries. That would have given the New Cold War’s three camps a military footprint in their country, with the US representing the Golden Billion, Russia representing the Sino-Russo Entente, and Turkiye representing the Global South.

Retaining an American military presence would have also served as an insurance policy of sorts from large-scale French Hybrid War operations, but now the West’s threat perceptions of the new Nigerien government are heightened like never before since there’s only a Russian and Turkish one there. Turkiye plays a hard diplomatic game at times and ties with Russia are complicated, but they’ve nevertheless remained cordial and continued expanding due to the joint multipolar vision of their two leaders.

Rybar takes a skeptical approach towards this subject, however, as is the norm for former members of the Russian Armed Forces and especially those who have experience dealing with Syrian War like its founder Mikhail Zvinchuk allegedly does. That’s understandable since Russia and Turkiye are “frenemies” in that Arab Republic and had at one time waged a fierce proxy war against one another there. Nevertheless, this means that Rybar isn’t the most reliable source for news and analyses about Turkiye.

To wrap it all up, while everyone has the right to feel however they want about Turkey’s Syrian-sourced mercenary presence in Niger, the fact of the matter is that those personnel are deployed there with the approval of its new military government as per its right to militarily partner with whoever it wants. The irony is that Niger just kicked the US out for questioning that selfsame right, yet that’s precisely what Rybar is now doing, albeit in a private capacity that thankfully doesn’t represent the Russian state.