The decline of the Western military presence in the Sahel and the expansion of the Russian Wagner Group there has eclipsed the offensive in Africa of the first Islamic private military company, the Turkish SADAT Group.

The expulsion of French and American troops from the Sahel and the corresponding expansion of the Russian Wagner mercenaries, now rebranded as the Africa Corps, has eclipsed the emergence of a new player: the Turkish private military company SADAT International Defence Consultancy, founded in 2012 by former Turkish army brigadier the late general Adnan Tanriverdi and 22 officers expelled from the Turkish army in 1997 for their Salafist tendencies.

The founder of the Turkish defence consulting company SADAT, 79-year-old Adnan Tanriverdi, died on Sunday, August 4, 2024.

Unlike Executive Outcomes, founded by former South African military officers in the last years of apartheid, which did not serve the interests of Pretoria, SADAT has more in common with Wagner, an instrument of Kremlin policy. There was indeed a close relationship between SADAT’s founder, 79-year-old Adnan Tanriverdi and Turkey president Recep Tayyib Erdogan. The relationship between the two men began in 1994, when the former served as a brigade commander in Istanbul, of which Erdogan was then mayor.During the controversial coup attempt of 15 July 2016, which many believe was a masquerade orchestrated by Erdogan to purge the army of opponents, SADAT  played a key role in fighting the insurgency After the alleged coup, Tanriverdi was appointed chief military adviser to the president’s cabinet and began promoting Muslim Brotherhood ideology within Turkey’s National Intelligence  (MIT).

President of the Republic of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan. CC BY 4.0/Pres.Office

The name “SADAT” is a suffix given to families believed to be descendants of the Prophet Muhammad. This means that SADAT is not an ordinary private military company, but a kind of ‘holy’ or ‘halal’ mercenary outfit. In fact, SADAT and Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) form a common ideological front. Ariane Gatelier, a researcher at the École de Guerre Économique in Paris, recalls that Tanriverdi was forced to resign from the Turkish army in 1996 because of his Islamist positions. In 2019, after declaring that SADAT was preparing the return of the long-awaited “Mahdi” (Erdogan himself), Tanriverdi was dismissed because he had become an embarrassment to the president. But he remained Erdogan’s confidant.
SADAT’s strategic aim has been to establish military cooperation with Muslim countries in order to enable them to become ‘Islamic superpowers’. It is active in 22 Islamic countries, where it offers security audits, operational and logistical support missions and the provision of fighters to its clients, which are either governments or militant organisations. In November 2019, SADAT signed a contract with the Libyan private security company Security Side, headed by Muslim Brotherhood leader Sameh Bukatef, to train militias affiliated with Fayaz al-Sarraj’s Government of National Accord (GNA). SADAT also trains Islamist elements in Somalia and Qatar, where Turkey has established military training centres.

A large range of products and services.
SADAT, which employs more than a hundred former Turkish army officers, offers a wide range of products and services, including military training for special forces, land, sea and air forces, and military logistical support. However, unlike other PMCs, SADAT does not openly promote a direct action or combat capability. It does, however, use a wide range of weapons to support its clients’ requirements and uses standard Turkish military equipment for its personnel, including Turkish-made MPT-76 assault rifles and JMK BORA-12 sniper rifles, as well as Otokar armoured personnel carriers.

Turkish Bayraktar TB2 drone.CC BY-SA 4.0/ Bayhaluk

SADAT provides complementary services to states which have signed security and defence cooperation agreements with Turkey. According to the Nigerian SBM Intelligence consultancy, 19 African countries signed such deals (Algeria, Libya, Mali, Senegal, Gambia, Ghana, Sudan, Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, Uganda, Kenya, Mauritania, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Madagascar, South Africa and Gabon). Guinea and Ivory Coast are also part of the list says Ariane Gatelier. Deployments of SADAT personnel have taken place in Burkina-Faso, Nigeria, Niger and Togo for guarding Turkish businesses including factories and mines. SADAT also reportedly provides assistance to the clients of Turkish Bayraktar TB2 drones such as Ethiopia, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Burkina-Faso, Niger, Togo, Nigeria, Chad, Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, Angola and Rwanda, claims SBM. According to the North Africa Post, Sadat is also deploying in Chad and a Qatari Leaks video identifies the Sudanese port city of Suakin as another potential site of SADAT involvement. Agency France Presse also claims that SADAT has sent groups in Nigeria to fight Boko Haram.

Turkish flag on Turkey army uniform. SADAT employs more than a hundred former Turkish army officers. 123rf

So far, its main operation has been in Libya. According to the SADAT’s website, the company began offering military training to Libyan security forces in 2013, after a visit to the country of its founder, Adnan Tanrverdi, to “determine the needs of the New Libyan Armed Forces”. At the time, SADAT created a concept for the Libyan military called “Sports Facilities Design for a Military Regiment” which served as kind of cover for its activities. According to the Vienna-based MENA Research Centre on the Middle East, SADAT sold 10,000 tons of weapons and ammunitions to militias loyal to the Tripoli-based GNA between July and September 2019, including armoured vehicles, missile launchers and drones. According to Pentagon sources, SADAT oversaw and paid for 5,000 Syrian mercenaries hired on behalf of the GNA. This intervention enabled the GNA to repel an attack by Marshal Khalifa Haftar, backed by Wagner mercenaries. The UN confirmed SADAT’s involvement in recruiting, financing and deploying Syrian fighters, including children, in Libya and in March 2021 accused SADAT of violating UN resolutions.

 In West Africa
SADAT’s second most important operation in Africa, after Libya, takes place in Niger, following a military cooperation agreement signed in July 2020, which considers the possibility of establishing a Turkish military base there.  In May 2024, the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH) revealed that Turkey had deployed 1,100 Syrian mercenaries in Niger since the start of the repatriation of French troops from the Barkhane anti-jihadist operation in September 2023. According to OSDH director Rami Abdulrahman, these fighters belong to the Sultan Murad faction, a Turkish proxy in northern Syria.

Boko Haram fighters. SADAT has sent groups in Nigeria to fight Boko Haram. Archive

The mercenaries have been deployed in the Liptako-Gourma region, between the borders of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, the epicentre of jihadist activity by groups linked to al-Qaeda or the Islamic State. Abdulrahman told the French newspaper Le Monde that the Syrian mercenaries were sent to guard mines, oil installations or military bases. But eventually they will be involved in the fight against jihadists. By June 2024, the OSDH estimated that 50 Syrian fighters had already been killed in Niger, mostly in jihadist attacks.
SADAT’s offensive in the Sahel is spreading to Burkina Faso. According to Le Monde, negotiations are underway between the company and the government in Ouagadougou to expand its activities there. Melih Tanriverdi denies that SADAT has any presence in Niger or Mali, despite many contradictory testimonies, but admits that the company has ambitions in the region. On SADAT’s website, he says that the company’s 2025 marketing plan includes offering integrated electronic border security solutions and reorganising the armed forces of Burkina Faso and other francophone countries. Tanriverdi also says that SADAT is looking to expand its business in the region. (Open Photo: 123rf and SADAT Logo)

François Misser