Turkey’s first military base in Somalia
A Turkish military center in Somalia is expected to train Somalian troops to fight against Al-Shabaab armed group. Following a military base in Qatar, Turkey’s second overseas military base will be in Somalia, at the coast of the Gulf of Aden.
This is part of a long-standing interest in Somalia by the Turks. |
Why on earth does Turkey care? | According to an agreement approved by the United Nations, almost 1,500 Somalian military personnel will be trained by Turkish military trainers.
The military base in Mogadishu is a part of Turkey’s pledge to build up the national army for the Somali government, which will fight against the al-Shabaab extreme organization as well as other regional extreme groups. According to government sources the initiative was a part of a framework agreement between the countries on defense industry cooperation signed last year.
On January 25 in 2015, Mogadishu and Ankara reached an agreement to increase military cooperation, which lasted almost a year until it was approved by the Defense Committee of the Turkish Parliament on December 9, 2015.
Posted by: Steve White 2016-06-16 |