President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has presented a motion to the Turkish Parliament demanding permission to send Turkish troops to Somalia.
The move follows a defense and economic cooperation agreement signed by Turkey and Somalia in February, which aimed to strengthen Somalia’s maritime defense capabilities and build Somalia’s own navy.
The motion presented to the Turkish parliament requests a two-year extension, with the option of renewing it, enabling President Erdogan to send Ankara’s naval forces to Somalia.
According to the motion seen by the Middle East Eye media, this action is a response to an official request from Turkey to the Somali government.
This agreement is said to be a response to the agreement Ethiopia signed with Somaliland in January, which gave Addis Ababa the right to part of Somalia’s waters.
“The deployment of Turkish troops will be in cooperation with the leaders of Somalia, and they will cover the maritime security of Somalia,” said the Turkish president.
Earlier this month, Turkey hosted the Foreign Ministers of Somalia and Ethiopia, trying to mediate and find a solution to the crisis between the two countries.
On Thursday, the Minister of Energy of Turkey, Alparslan Bayraktar, signed an agreement on the exploration and production of carbon generated with his Somali counterpart, Abdirisaq Omar Mohamed, in Istanbul. This agreement authorizes the Turkish state company TPAO to carry out oil exploration activities in three different blocks in the Somali sea area.
