When Ethiopian police stormed the gates of Addis Ababa’s Intellectual School on the morning of August 10, Aslan (first name changed), one of the teachers, first thought of a “Umpteenth attempt at intimidation”. But the tone suffered no objection that day. “Go away right away!”, ordered the federal police officers, weapons in hand, the school is now under our responsibility. “ In one day, the Ethiopian authorities suspended the activities of the Intellectual School and ten other establishments affiliated with the Hizmet movement: the vast educational and humanitarian network of Turkish preacher Fethullah Gülen no longer has any schools in Ethiopia.
This former ally of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has become the sworn enemy of the Turkish president, is accused of having fomented the attempted coup of July 15, 2016 in Turkey. Since then, the Turkish authorities have sought by all means to dismantle the Hizmet network in the world. In Ethiopia, it will have taken a little over two years. After their seizure, the eleven establishments were transferred to the Maarif Foundation, set up by Ankara to replace the brotherhood of Fethullah Gülen.
A week later, on August 18, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed visited the Turkish capital. Recep Tayyip Erdogan welcomed the transfer of establishments and thanked his counterpart for his “Fight against terrorism”. The two men took the opportunity to sign an important military cooperation agreement, details of which have not been made public.
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Aslan sees these early dates as a sign of a broader understanding between Addis Ababa and Ankara. “The child of the Ethiopian Deputy Prime Minister was educated in our school and overnight the government calls us a terrorist organization, he wonders. This shows that there was more on the negotiating table. “
Several diplomatic sources mention the existence of a contract for the delivery of drones to Ethiopia. What the Turkish and Ethiopian governments have so far systematically denied. Abiy Ahmed, stuck in the civil war in Tigray for almost a year, does not hide his need to acquire drones. For their part, the Tigrayan rebels of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Tigray (FPLT) have been reporting the intensive use of these aircraft for several weeks.
The Reuters news agency reports that the amount of arms sales between Turkey and Ethiopia has exploded this year: exports in the fields of defense and armaments rose from 203,000 dollars (approximately 175,000 euros) to $ 51 million. On August 20, an unusual cargo plane from Turkey landed at the Ethiopian military base at Harar Meda to unload its cargo.
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