Turkey in the Horn of Africa
Turkish-Somali Military Connections Focused on the Turkish Military Camp in Mogadishu, Somalia
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.59569/jceeas.2023.3.4.220Keywords:
Camp Turksom, Horn of Africa, STGK, Turkey-Somalia connections, Turkish Task Force CommandAbstract
Turkey has started to build closer ties with Somalia in the last decade. Somalia is in a strategically located at a key point in Africa which is also of global importance asa gateway from the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea, the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, leading to the Mediterranean. This indicates that many world powers want to gain influence in Somalia, but when the African country was in serious crisis, Turkey took advantage of the difficult times to step in, show its power and start building connections in the Horn of Africa. In 2011, during the humanitarian crisis, which devastated Somalia, Turkey helped the country with important and unforgettable volume. Since then, the relations between the two countries have been strengthening connections. In 2023 we can state that Turkey has its largest embassy in the world in Somalia, Turkey has a huge military camp in Somalia’s capital, Turkish companies run the Mogadishu’s international airport and international port, and one of the Mogadishu’s biggest hospital is named after Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, as Turkey renovated the facility.
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