Turkey’s Ambitions

T he Fourth Congress titled International Islamic Union organized by the Turkish Association of Strategic Studies Center (ASSAM) was held on December 12, 2020, in Istanbul. ASSAM, like the Turkish private security company SADAT, was formed by retired General Adnan Tanriverdi. The research center, owned by Erdogan’s former military advisor, carries out a number of projects to unite Islamic states, one of which is the idea of ASRIKA (Asia-Africa Turkish abbreviation) a proposed creation of regional federations between Islamic states. In 2018, Tanriverdi stated in one of his interviews that their goal is to unite the Islamic countries.

According to this ambitious project, the so-called ASRIKA Confederation of Islamic States will consist of 61 Islamic countries (28 in Asia, 27 in Africa, 4 in Europe and 2 in South America), forming 9 regional federations, without the change of state borders.

According to the map published by the center, 9 federations will be created, which are:

1. Federation of Islamic States of the Middle East — Saudi Arabia, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Yemen, Oman, Bahrein, Qatar, Kuwait, Palestine.
2. Federation of Islamic States of Central Asia — Azerbaijan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, the self-proclaimed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.
3. Federation of Islamic States of the Middle East — Iran, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Pakistan.
4. Federation of Islamic States of South-East Asia — Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, the Maldives.
5. Federation of Islamic States of North Africa — Algeria, Egypt, Tunis, Libya, Morocco, Chad.
6. Federation of Islamic States of East Africa (or Red Sea Basin) — Sudan, Eritrea, Somali, Djibouti, Mozambique, Comoro Islands.
7. Federation of Islamic States of North-East Africa and South America — Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Guyana, Mauritania, Mali, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Surinam.
8. Federation of Islamic States of South West Africa —Benin, Burkina Faso, Gabon, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Niger, Nigeria, Tog.
9. Federation of Islamic States of Europe — Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia.

According to Turkish media, the ASRIKA Union of Islamic States will be a republic, with the capital Istanbul and language Arabic. The Constitutional model of the Confederation of Islamic states has already been published, stating that the five main areas of activity of ASRIKA will be justice, defense and military as well as domestic and foreign affairs. At the regional level, the federation of Islamic states should operate in the following six areas: customs and trade, transport and sea (transportation), economy, science, industry and tech development, culture and tourism.

The geography of the nine federations

The states within this federation will aim to cooperate in key areas: education, finance, energy and natural resources, health, agriculture and cattle breeding, youth and sport, forestry and water management, labor and social security, social policy, ecology. Ministries will be created and a Parliament for the Islamic confederation.

The last two meetings by ASSAM were focused on the principles of military industry and common defense goals between member states. In particular to create a Ministry of Defense which will be accompanied by Defense Presidencies in the nine regional federations of the Islamic states with one established in each nation state of the federation. Centers for military production should be organized for military products, research and standardization, certification, coding, service and repair. Also within the framework of scientific research a joint foundation for space technology and particle acceleration should be created in support for the larger goal of military tech advancements.

The confederation must also have a Defense Ministry with its subdivisions to face possible challenges. According to the report of ASSAM, the General Staff of the confederation (probably located in Turkey) must give orders for the joint operations of the armies in the center of the nine regional federations, in the fields of land, sea, air, air-missile defense, cyber and electronic security. 

Thus, after establishing the SADAT private security company, A. Tanriverdi is currently trying to create the ASRIKA army within the framework of the Islamic Confederation’s concept. Nevertheless, we believe that the military-industrial cooperation with the countries of Islamic Union, if of course implemented, will allow Turkey to acquire new military technologies. 

Currently discussions on this scale are ongoing. It should be noted that there will be several conferences on common foreign policy and security issues till 2023.