Turkey is going to deploy its naval forces in Somalia to protect Somalia’s territorial waters.
On Friday, a motion was submitted by the government of Türkiye at the Turkish parliament to authorize Turkish President to deploy Turkish naval forces in Somalia’s territorial waters. In February, Türkiye and Somalia signed a defense agreement. The motion submitted on Friday is linked to the defense agreement. The agreement was signed to counter an MoU signed by Ethiopia and Somaliland.
In January, an MoU was signed between Ethiopia and Somaliland. Somaliland is internationally recognized as a part of Somalia. Ethiopia is a landlocked country and has been using Djibouti’s ports for decades for imports and exports. This MoU states that Somaliland will let Ethiopia use its ports and Ethiopia will build a navy base in Somaliland and in return Ethiopia will recognize Somaliland as country and will give shares in its profitable entity to Somaliland.
Somalia rejected the MoU calling it a violation of its territorial integrity and sovereignty. It threatened that it will do anything to stop this MoU. Both parties Somaliland and Ethiopia said that MoU will turn into an agreement soon but it has been 7 months, still there is no sign of signing of final agreement.
To counter this MoU, Somalia signed an agreement with Türkiye. According to the agreement, Turkiye will train Somalia’s forces and in return Turkey will get a share of Somalia’s under water resources. This deal was signed in February and was put to vote at Somalia’s parliament.
The Somali parliament approved this deal but no member of parliament was shown the actual deal. Both Türkiye Somalia agreement and Ethiopia Somaliland MoU were not made public. The defense deal has been approved by the parliament of Somalia but has not been tabled at Turkish parliament. On Friday, the ruling party of the president Erdogan submitted a motion at the Turkish parliament.
If this motion is approved, it will authorize Erdogan Turkish President to deploy Turkish navy to Somalia’s territorial waters. It will give a mandate to the President for 2 years. The text of this motion states that the deployment of the navy will be made in coordination with Somalia’s government. Secondly, the deployment will be made to protect Somalia’s waters.
It remains to be seen if the deployment of Turkish navy in Somalia will accelerate the implementation of Ethiopia Somaliland MoU or stop the MoU from being implemented.
Earlier this month, Turkey mediated between Ethiopia and Somalia. Foreign Minister from the two countries met in Ankara. They could not reach an agreement but they agreed to meet again on September 2.
Read More…
Somalia & Türkiye Sign Exploration Agreement
Somaliland Warns Turkey Against Deployment of Navy
Ethiopian FM Accuses Somalia of Issuing Irresponsible Statements