After his failure in Suakin, Erdogan's claws head to Somalia
Erdogan driven by dreams of restoring the Ottoman Empire
The media reported that the Turkish President received a request from the Somali government to explore for oil in Somali territorial waters.
As the Turkish presence in Somalia brings back geopolitical concerns in the Horn of Africa, including the threat to Arab national security, and what the developments in the political scene can go to in what appears to be a quick attempt by Erdogan to absorb the blow he received at the Berlin conference on sending mercenaries to Tripoli.
Turkish hands in Somalia
The Turkish-Somali relationship started since 2008 when Ankara provided $ 70 million in humanitarian aid in the areas of education, health, and agriculture.
In 2011, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan appeared with his family in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, and according to Erdogan, the visit was intended to draw the world's attention to the drought that had caused a crisis that ravaged the Somali people.
Although Turkish economic investments in the Horn of Africa are concentrated in Ethiopia, which amounted to $ 3 billion, investments in Somalia quickly jumped to $ 100 million at the end of 2017.
Turkey entered into contracts with the Somali government in various fields, which enabled the expansion of Turkish activities in this country.
Turkish military base
In October 2017, Turkey announced the establishment of its second military base outside Turkish territory and it was in Somalia, and the Turkish military base in Qatar is the first base established outside Turkey.
And several several intelligence reports have spoken that the Turks took advantage of a loophole in the UN resolutions related to combating piracy in the Horn of Africa and from them they obtained the military agreement in Somalia.
The Turkish military base is located just two kilometers south of the Somali capital, Mogadishu, and has an area of about 400 hectares, and includes three different training facilities, in addition to weapons and ammunition depots, with a financial cost of $ 50 million.
The opening of the base was attended by Turkish Army Chief of Staff Hulusi Akar, and the base overlooks the Gulf of Aden.
Aden in the eyes of Erdogan
With the beginning of the year 2011, the Brotherhood revealed its plan through what is called (the Arab Spring), and despite intersections about regional influence in the Middle East, Erdogan and his allies in Yemen were a player, albeit not visible.
After the liberation of Aden (October 2015), the Yemeni Brotherhood branch entered forcefully in an attempt to bring the city under their control through their terrorist arms, ISIS and al-Qaeda, and despite their catastrophic failure, their efforts remain.
The plan is to create a zone of influence on the coastal strip from the Arabian Sea through the Bab al-Mandab to Hudaydah so that Turkey can gain absolute control of both sides of the geographical region represented by the Horn of Africa and the southern Arabian coasts, thus placing Turkey's hand at the Bab al-Mandab and the southern Red Sea.
Sawakin .. the sharp transition
Accompanying the foregoing is the fall of Omar al-Bashir’s regime in Sudan, where the Turkish agreement for the port of Suakin on the Red Sea coast fell, and with the fall of the agreement, there was a defect in the Turkish plan to expand influence on the Red Sea with the possibility of obtaining an opportunity in a deal that might take place with a political settlement in Yemen. To Turkey's allies (the Yemeni Rally for Reform Party) hand over the city of Aden to Turkish President Erdogan.
After Turkey found international pressure that thwarted its plans for a military presence in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, after the Berlin conference, Turkish President Erdogan returned to the Somali file in order to continue his policy of threatening Arab national security.
It seems that the next stage will carry further pressure on Ankara from the African Union, which will not accept the crises that the Turkish presence in East Africa will constitute, especially as the Turks may increase their activity in the region, which will exacerbate the African crises, and terrorist operations may increase as a result of the Turkish methodology adopted in an essential part of it On the activity of terrorist organizations.