WIREDGOV

The abundance of oil deposits in Somalia has lured interest from Turkey, deepening the Mogadishu-Ankara relationship.

In August 2011, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his family travelled to Mogadishu amidst a gruelling famine, becoming the first non-African head of state to visit Somalia in almost two decades.

Rallying humanitarian support, Erdoğan's visit spurred an outpouring of affection for Turkey, with the white crescent and star on red subsequently adorning much of the country. Some Somali children were even named after the Turkish leader. Flash forward nearly fifteen years, and much of the regional and global political landscape has changed almost beyond recognition – as have Turkish geostrategic stakes in Somalia. What followed has been a transformation in kind and scale, spanning military bases and now deepwater drillships, and situated in a broader geopolitical contest for the Gulf of Aden and Red Sea.

Ankara's engagement has passed through several distinct phases over the years, shifting from soft power and humanitarian diplomacy through infrastructure management to becoming Mogadishu's foremost foreign allytoday. Since Erdoğan's visit, Turkish soft power has proliferated, with thousands of Somali students in Istanbul or Ankara, the Mogadishu elite holidaying in Turkey, and Turkish brands such as Enza Home becoming markers of middle-class aspiration in the capital. At the same time, Turkish companies have assumed control of the management of the Mogadishu port and airport, whilst Camp TURKSOM – Ankara's largest overseas military base – has facilitated the training of thousands of Gorgor special forces since 2017.

Throughout, Turkey has channelled its support exclusively through the federal government in Mogadishu, a posture that distinguishes it from the UAE – a geostrategic rival of Ankara's in the Horn of Africa – and Ethiopia, which both have cultivated ties with Somalia's semi-autonomous regional administrations of Puntland and Jubaland, as well as Somaliland. Today, it is Riyadh and Abu Dhabi that are grappling for ascendancy over the Red Sea, but in 2017, simmering tensions within the Gulf Cooperation Council erupted into the open, with a Saudi-Emirati-led coalition seeking to blockade Qatar, aligned with Turkey, due to its alleged ties with Iran and various Islamist movements. Though publicly neutral, Mogadishu allied itself with Qatar and Turkey in the fallout– infuriating the UAE, which subsequently broadly steered its considerable financial and military support away from Mogadishu. In this period, however, Ankara was broadly considered the 'junior partner' in Somalia for Doha, helping to steer patronage and aid on Qatar's behalf.

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