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 Turkey |  Sudan |
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Sudan and Turkey have enjoyed a relatively close relationship, owning by previous historical links between two countries since the Ottoman Empire. Due to this historical tie, Sudan and Turkey share an Ottoman legacy, though little comparing to other Arab states.
The Ottomans, represented by Egypt of Muhammad Ali, conquered Sudan in early 19th century, which marked the era as Turkiyah (Turkish rule). Under the Turkiyah, Sudanese slavery was soon abolished as part of Tanzimat reforms, and economy of Sudan started to improve. Yet, due to the Ottomans' favoritism toward religious orthodoxy, it was met with resistance from the Sudanese. [1]
From 1870s onward, weakening Ottoman Empire paved way for the rebellion led by Muhammad Ahmad against the Turks. [2] It was met with angers from both Egyptians/Ottomans alike, after Muhammad Ahmad proclaimed himself as mahdi, ignited the Mahdist War resulting with heavy military defeat of the Ottomans under British commands to the hand of the Sudanese Mahdists. [3] It wasn't until 1890s that saw the Ottomans, reorganized by Herbert Kitchener, re-conquered Sudan in a costly and bloody war under the banner of the Ottoman Turks/Egyptians. [4]
With the outbreak of World War I, Britain separated Egypt and Sudan together from the Ottomans, and the two countries would have no official relations until mid-20th century. Nonetheless, the Sultanate of Darfur at 1916 proclaimed support to the Ottomans, which was marked by British annexation of Darfur to Sudan. [5]
With the independence of Sudan from Egypt at 1956, Sudan established relations with Turkey, with Turkey among the earliest nations to open an embassy in Sudan. However, for most of the late 20th century, Sudan–Turkey ties were characterized by remoteness and lack of interest, as Turkey has more interests in the Middle East and Balkans, while Sudan sat into political turmoil. Despite this, relations were cordial under Gaafar Nimeiry, but had become cold under Omar al-Bashir from 1990s to 2010s. [6]
In the 2010s and after years of neglecting the relationship, Turkey, headed by the Islamist Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, started to divert its attention to Africa, including Sudan, which has boosted their relations. Turkey has increased their presence in Sudan. [7] One of the most notable is the lease of the Sudanese island Suakin to Turkey in a 99-year contract, to which regional rivals like Egypt and Saudi Arabia have reacted with skepticism and suspicion. Turkey has denied attempts to build a military base in Suakin. [8] This deal was cancelled by the transitional government after Bashir's overthrow.
Turkey has voiced support to Omar al-Bashir's Government in Sudan during the wave of growing anti-Bashir protest, and has pledged to send aids, ammunitions and supports to Sudan battling against protesters. [9]
Khartoum or Khartum is the capital of Sudan. With a population of 5,274,321, its metropolitan area is the largest in Sudan. It is located at the confluence of the White Nile, flowing north from Lake Victoria, and the Blue Nile, flowing west from Lake Tana in Ethiopia. The place where the two Niles meet is known as al-Mogran or al-Muqran. From there, the Nile continues north towards Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea.
Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Egypt to the north, Eritrea to the northeast, Ethiopia to the southeast, Libya to the northwest, South Sudan to the south and the Red Sea. It has a population of 45.70 million people as of 2022 and occupies 1,886,068 square kilometres, making it Africa's third-largest country by area, and the third-largest by area in the Arab League. It was the largest country by area in Africa and the Arab League until the secession of South Sudan in 2011, since which both titles have been held by Algeria. Its capital is Khartoum and its most populated city is Omdurman.
The history of Sudan refers to both the territory of the Republic of the Sudan, including what became in 2011 the independent state of South Sudan. The territory of Sudan is geographically part of a larger African region, also known by the term "Sudan". The term is derived from Arabic: بلاد السودان bilād as-sūdān, or "land of the black people", and has sometimes been used more widely referring to the Sahel belt of West and Central Africa.
Omdurman is a city in Sudan. It is the most populated city in the country, and thus also in the State of Khartoum. Omdurman lies on the west bank of the River Nile, opposite and northwest of the capital city of Khartoum.
Muhammad Ahmad bin Abd Allah was a Nubian Sufi religious leader of the Samaniyya order in Sudan who, as a youth, studied Sunni Islam. In 1881, he claimed to be the Mahdi, and led a successful war against Ottoman-Egyptian military rule in Sudan and achieved a remarkable victory over the British, in the siege of Khartoum. He created a vast Islamic state extending from the Red Sea to Central Africa, and founded a movement that remained influential in Sudan a century later.
Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir is a Sudanese former military officer and politician who served as the seventh head of state of Sudan under various titles from 1989 until 2019, when he was deposed in a coup d'état. He was subsequently incarcerated, tried and convicted on multiple corruption charges. He came to power in 1989 when, as a brigadier general in the Sudanese Army, he led a group of officers in a military coup that ousted the democratically elected government of prime minister Sadiq al-Mahdi after it began negotiations with rebels in the south. He was elected three times as president in elections that have been under scrutiny for electoral fraud. In 1992, al-Bashir founded the National Congress Party, which remained the dominant political party in the country until 2019. In March 2009, al-Bashir became the first sitting head of state to be indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC), for allegedly directing a campaign of mass killing, rape, and pillage against civilians in Darfur. On 11 February 2020, the Sudanese government announced that it had agreed to hand over al-Bashir to the ICC for trial.
Anglo-Egyptian Sudan was a condominium of the United Kingdom and Egypt in the Sudans region of northern Africa between 1899 and 1956, corresponding mostly to the territory of present-day Sudan and South Sudan. Legally, sovereignty and administration were shared between both Egypt and the United Kingdom, but in practice the structure of the condominium ensured effective British control over Sudan, with Egypt having limited, local power influence in reality. In the mean time, Egypt itself fell under increasing British influence. Following the Egyptian Revolution of 1952, Egypt pushed for an end to the condominium, and the independence of Sudan. By agreement between Egypt and the United Kingdom in 1953, Sudan was granted independence as the Republic of the Sudan on 1 January 1956. In 2011, the south of Sudan itself became independent as the Republic of South Sudan.
Sadiq al-Mahdi, also known as Sadiq as-Siddiq, was a Sudanese political and religious figure who was Prime Minister of Sudan from 1966 to 1967 and again from 1986 to 1989. He was head of the National Umma Party and Imam of the Ansar, a Sufi order that pledges allegiance to Muhammad Ahmad (1844–1885), who claimed to be the Mahdi, the messianic saviour of Islam.
Turkish Sudan, also known as Turkiyya, describes the rule of the Eyalet and later Khedivate of Egypt over what is now Sudan and South Sudan. It lasted from 1820, when Muhammad Ali Pasha started his conquest of Sudan, to the fall of Khartoum in 1885 to Muhammad Ahmad, the self-proclaimed Mahdi.
The Mahdist State, also known as Mahdist Sudan or the Sudanese Mahdiyya, was a state based on a religious and political movement launched in 1881 by Muhammad Ahmad bin Abdullah against the Khedivate of Egypt, which had ruled the Sudan since 1821. After four years of struggle, the Mahdist rebels overthrew the Ottoman-Egyptian administration and established their own "Islamic and national" government with its capital in Omdurman. Thus, from 1885 the Mahdist government maintained sovereignty and control over the Sudanese territories until its existence was terminated by the Anglo-Egyptian forces in 1898.
The Battle of Khartoum, Siege of Khartoum or Fall of Khartoum was the conquest of Egyptian-held Khartoum by the Mahdist forces led by Muhammad Ahmad of Sudan, who claimed to be the Mahdi. Egypt had held the city for some time, but after a ten-month siege, from 13 March 1884 to 26 January 1885, the Mahdists finally broke into the city and killed the entire garrison of Egyptian soldiers, along with 4,000 mostly male Sudanese civilians. Many women and children were enslaved. According to some accounts, the attackers killed and beheaded British General Charles George Gordon, the commander of the defenders, delivering his head to the Mahdi.
Osman Digna was a follower of Muhammad Ahmad, the self-proclaimed Mahdi, in Sudan, who became his best known military commander during the Mahdist War. He was claimed to be a descendant from the Abbasid family. As the Mahdi's ablest general, he played an important role in the fate of General Charles George Gordon and the loss of the Sudan to Turkish-Egyptian rule.
The Mahdist War was a war between the Mahdist Sudanese of the religious leader Muhammad Ahmad bin Abd Allah, who had proclaimed himself the "Mahdi" of Islam, and the forces of the Khedivate of Egypt, initially, and later the forces of Britain. Eighteen years of war resulted in the nominally joint-rule state of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan (1899–1956), a de jure condominium of the British Empire and the Kingdom of Egypt in which Britain had de facto control over the Sudan. The Sudanese launched several unsuccessful invasions of their neighbours, expanding the scale of the conflict to include not only Britain and Egypt but also the Italian Empire, the Congo Free State and the Ethiopian Empire.
The Khedivate of Egypt was an autonomous tributary state of the Ottoman Empire, established and ruled by the Muhammad Ali Dynasty following the defeat and expulsion of Napoleon Bonaparte's forces which brought an end to the short-lived French occupation of Lower Egypt. The Khedivate of Egypt had also expanded to control present-day Sudan, South Sudan, Eritrea, Djibouti, northern Somalia, Israel, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Greece, Cyprus, southern and central Turkey, in addition to parts from Libya, Chad, Central African Republic, and Democratic Republic of Congo, as well as northwestern Saudi Arabia, parts of Yemen and the Kingdom of Hejaz.
Sudan–United Kingdom relations are foreign relations between Sudan and United Kingdom. Sudan has an embassy in London whilst the United Kingdom has an embassy in Khartoum. Most of the recent relations between the two countries centre on the region of Darfur.
The Anglo-Egyptian conquest of Sudan in 1896–1899 was a reconquest of territory lost by the Khedives of Egypt in 1884 and 1885 during the Mahdist War. The British had failed to organise an orderly withdrawal of Egyptian forces from Sudan, and the defeat at Khartoum left only Suakin and Equatoria under Egyptian control after 1885. The conquest of 1896–99 defeated and destroyed the Mahdist state and re-established Anglo-Egyptian rule, which remained until Sudan became independent in 1956.
The Greeks in Sudan are small in number, but still a very prominent community in the country. Historically, this diverse group has played a significant role in the political, economic, cultural, and sporting life of Sudan, as they have been the only European immigrant community of considerable size and economic power.
The 2019–2022 Sudanese protests are street protests in Sudan which began in mid-September 2019, during Sudan's transition to democracy, about issues which included the nomination of a new Chief Justice and Attorney General, the killing of civilians by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the toxic effects of cyanide and mercury from gold mining in Northern state and South Kordofan, opposition to a state governor in el-Gadarif and to show trials of Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA) coordinators, and advocating the dismissal of previous-government officials in Red Sea, White Nile, and South Darfur. The protests follow the Sudanese Revolution's street protests and civil disobedience of the early September 2019 transfer of executive power to the country's Sovereignty Council, civilian prime minister Abdalla Hamdok, and his cabinet of ministers. Hamdok described the 39-month transition period as defined by the aims of the revolution.
The Mahdi's tomb or qubba is located in Omdurman, Sudan. It was the burial place of Muhammad Ahmad, the leader of an Islamic revolt against the Ottoman-Egyptian occupation of Sudan in the late 19th century.
Sanin Husain was a religious and military leader who served the Mahdist State. Even after the Mahdists had been completely defeated by Anglo-Egyptian forces in 1899, Sanin refused to surrender and continued to maintain a Mahdist holdout at Kabkabiya in Darfur. From there, he resisted the reestablished Sultanate of Darfur, repeatedly defeating the armies of Sultan Ali Dinar. Sanin Husain was finally killed by Ali Dinar's forces in a siege of Kabkabiya lasting 17 to 18 months.
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