Somalia and the Turkish naval military presence Khalid Hassan Yusuf

11:53 PM February, 24 2024

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خالد حسن يوسف-الصومال
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On February 20, 2024, the Council of Ministers and the House of Representatives and Senate approved a defense and economic agreement between Somalia and Turkey. The duration of the agreement is ten years.
In a press statement by Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mahmoud, he stated, “The goal of the agreement is to protect the Somali coast militarily, from overfishing, piracy, and terrorism, to establish Somali naval forces, and to invest maritime resources between the two countries"(1)
However, it was not mentioned whether this includes the offshore oil and gas sector.

Also, the content of the agreement was not officially indicated, whether it was comprehensive military, or whether it was limited to a specific geographical framework, which is the maritime borders and the Somali coasts.

And if there is a possibility to include protecting the Somali land borders and airspace from external attacks؟
It appears that it comes along the lines of joint military cooperation agreements concluded by Somalia with countries including the United States, Britain, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey itself, which cooperated with Mogadishu in the past in this regard.

Given that Turkey is a member state in NATO and the presence of Western countries, including the United States, Britain and others, on the Somali sea coasts, will protection from external intrusions include those countries؟
Or is this matter left to the responsibility of the Somali government and how it manages its foreign relations with those countries؟

Therefore, the real space left for the Turkish military presence on the Somali coasts is limited in the context of confronting the vague terrorism, especially since the Somali Al-Shabaab movement is not active and effective at the maritime level, not to mention the absence of maritime terrorist threats in recent decades on those coasts, while the issue of maritime piracy remains an issue. Effective, present and reliable.

The outcome is that the nature of the Turkish presence will primarily aim to protect international economic interests and not Somali national security, in addition to a state of Turkish expansion and presence in a very important geographical area.

While there is an actual threat to Somalia’s sovereignty and external military intrusions by its neighbors represented in Ethiopia and Kenya, and given that the agreement between Somalia and Turkey gives major importance to the geographical maritime dimension in particular, it will not actually be as useful as joint cooperation to protect Somalia’s sovereignty, as much as it will serve to protect Somalia’s sovereignty. Turkish economic interests with Somalia.

Turkey and Ethiopia have a great economic partnership, as the largest foreign investments on the African continent are located in Ethiopia. Not to mention the state of actual military cooperation between the two countries, especially since Turkey played a prominent role in supporting the Ethiopian government in its war against the Tigray People's Liberation Front.

The main military and security threat that Somalia suffers from comes through the penetration of its land borders and airspace. In this context, it is not clear the extent of the role that Turkey can contribute to in supporting Somalia’s sovereignty militarily. It is also evident from the features of Somali President Hassan Sheikh’s speech regarding the agreement that its purpose is Preventing the access of Ethiopia and others to the Somali maritime coasts. This comes against the backdrop of economic privileges granted to Turkey, and in response to Somali security concerns that wish to conclude a barter deal between the two parties.


The Somali president’s statement that “Turkey will protect the Somali coasts from Ethiopian or other encroachments”(2) appears to be a speech for consumption, given the existence of Turkish military cooperation with Addis Ababa.

The other matter is that Turkey had previously sponsored reconciliation between the Somali government and the separatist canton in Somalia, the signing of which led to the announcement of a joint agreement with Ethiopia on January 1, 2024, except for concluding a military cooperation agreement with Ankara as a response to Addis Ababa’s threats towards Somalia.

In another direction, in February 2024, Somalia concluded a military agreement that granted the United States five military bases throughout the country. It was said that their purpose was to support the Somali army at the level of military training and to confront terrorism, and had no connection to protecting Somali territory from an Ethiopian invasion.

In turn, the United Arab Emirates has an actual military agreement over the years with Somalia, although it does not represent legal legitimacy yet, because it has not yet been approved by the Somali Parliament.
The UAE has a military presence in part of the northeastern coast of Somalia, which will witness the Turkish naval presence. This is a conflict of interests between Turkey and the UAE, which will find each other in a common geographic circle, not to mention their military presence in Mogadishu itself.

In other words, the Somali government is following the path of Djibouti, which has granted military bases to many countries, including competing countries, such as China and the United States. The dimension of this conflicting presence is the Djiboutian government’s pursuit of financial revenues and protecting the security of the regime. It appears that the Somali path is moving in the same direction, and is marred by A state of confusion due to the absence of a national security strategy, not to mention its impact on the performance of successive governments and its failure to work within an integrated political context.

It is worth noting that the Somali government has refrained from mentioning the terms of the military-economic agreement with Turkey, and the details or content of the deal between the two countries have not yet been announced, but the announcement of the agreement has been welcomed by a general public, given the state of severe tension prevailing in Somalia due to Ethiopian threats. .
The Somali President said, “There is justification for not announcing the terms of the agreement”(3)

While necessity requires announcing the nature of the agreement and distancing it because it is related to the interests of the Somalis, the details of which must not be woven in isolation from them. It is unjustified for the executive and legislative institutions of the Somali state to sign the terms of an external agreement with a foreign country and in return for it to be hidden from the people!

The irony is that the Somalis historically knew the Turkish military presence and support in the Fifteenth century AD, under the Sultanate of Adal, where they supported the Muslims of the Sultanate, the most prominent of whom were the Somalis, during their confrontation with the Abyssinian expansion in the Horn of Africa.
The Ottoman Sultanate granted weapons and military experts, not to mention a military force of 5,000 soldiers to support the Sultanate of Adal. However, the Imam, Commander Ahmed bin Ibrahim, later requested the departure of the Ottoman forces to Yemen, when he became militarily concerned about them.

How will the reality of Somali and Turkish military cooperation begin and end؟
Although its first indicators were good, and started with supporting and training units of the Somali army, and qualifying many Somali officers in Turkish military academies, while the Somali side wasted the Turkish effort in this regard, due to the conflicts of politicians and those who dismantled those military units that Turkey had trained.

In principle, Turkey is a country with interests in Somalia, and its presence, first and foremost, is not based on assistance, but rather due to the presence of vital and economic interests in the Horn of Africa in general, which represents a very important strategic region at the global level, and Somalia will not receive Turkish military sacrifices to protect its national security without compensation, which is He is authorized to take advantage of Turkish capabilities to re-establish his naval and armed forces in general.

In light of Mogadishu’s rapprochement with Ankara, specifically during the mandate of the Justice and Development Party and its allies, especially since the foreign policy orientations of the Turkish political parties in some files are not in line with the outlook of the ruling coalition in Turkey, which could result in Somali military cooperation with Turkey being fatally damaged if the government does not do so. Somalia quickly fulfilled its obligations.

On the ground, Somali naval military cooperation with Turkey will include the separatist canton, which will harm its presence on a large area of ​​the sea coast, unless the Turks deal with it militarily and coordinate with it, especially since Ankara actually deals with it as a Somali political force and in light of the existence of common communications between them.

The bottom line is that this new event comes in light of the political confusion typical of successive Somali governments, and in the near term it will not be a way for Somalis to escape from Ethiopian interventions because its content is limited and it will not put Turkey in the face of Ethiopia.

Khalid Hassan Yusuf

1-Press statement by Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, Somali TV, Mogadishu, February 20, 2024.
2-The same source.
3-The same source.

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