Turkey ramps up hard and soft power push into Africa

ISTANBUL — When Turkey’s Yapi Merkezi signed a $3 billion deal last month to build a railway from Uganda’s capital, Kampala, to a border town in neighboring Kenya, it wasn’t just a win for the Istanbul-based construction company.

From big-ticket projects and boosting trade to high-level diplomacy and military equipment sales, Turkey is ramping up a pivot to Africa in a challenge to well-entrenched rivals including China, Russia, the U.K. and France.