Somalia Must Rebalance Its Relationship With Türkiye, Op-Ed Says

Somalia’s relationship with Türkiye is often praised as a rare success story: a partnership built on roads, hospitals, military training and the rhetoric of solidarity. Turkish-backed projects are frequently cited as evidence that foreign assistance can deliver visible results in a country long battered by conflict.

Yet beneath the applause, a harder question is emerging in Somalia: not whether Türkiye has helped, but whether the arrangement is transparent, sustainable and truly aligned with Somalia’s long-term national interest.

This is not a call to abandon partnership. It is a call to stop treating gratitude as a governing strategy.

The Problem With Gratitude as Policy

For more than 10 years, Türkiye has been one of Somalia’s most prominent partners, with a footprint that spans infrastructure, aviation, education and security. In a nation still rebuilding from decades of instability, that involvement has clearly mattered. Even so, gratitude cannot substitute for oversight, and more Somalis — analysts, officials and ordinary citizens alike — are asking a basic question: who gains more from these arrangements?

Somalia sits astride one of the world’s most strategic maritime corridors and offers opportunities in ports, logistics and construction that could shape the country’s economic future. But questions remain about whether Somalia has enough leverage when negotiating these deals, and whether the public has been given enough information to understand their terms.

When agreements involving national assets are left opaque, suspicion follows. In fragile states, that suspicion can quickly become destabilizing.

Control Without Ownership

Türkiye’s role in helping rebuild Somalia’s infrastructure is unquestionable. But infrastructure is never just about concrete and steel — it is also about authority.

Who runs the ports? Who determines operating terms? Who ultimately collects the long-term revenue?

Without clear answers, development can slide into dependency.

The concern is not that Türkiye is uniquely overreaching. It is that Somalia, like many developing countries, may be entering agreements without enough safeguards to protect national ownership and build institutional capacity for the future.

If local expertise does not grow alongside foreign involvement, Somalia could remain reliant on outside support for the very systems it is trying to own.

The Quiet Risks of Security Partnerships

Nowhere is the balance more delicate than in security cooperation.

Türkiye has trained thousands of Somali soldiers, helping rebuild national forces in a country where security remains central to state survival. Supporters view that as essential to stabilization. Critics, however, see a more complicated picture.

In a politically divided setting, security forces are never just security forces. They are also instruments of legitimacy and power.

When training, doctrine and operational capability are heavily shaped by one foreign partner, legitimate questions arise about:

Institutional independenceCommand integrityLong-term strategic autonomy

Even the appearance of outside influence can weaken public confidence in state institutions.

A Red Line: Political Neutrality

There is another danger, quieter but potentially more damaging.

Foreign partners must not only be neutral; they must be seen as neutral.

In Somalia’s fragile political climate, any perception that an external actor is aligned with the sitting administration carries real consequences.

Security cooperation during politically sensitive periods, especially when electoral processes are not fully inclusive, may be interpreted — fairly or not — as indirect backing for the incumbent government.

That perception alone can:

Undermine institutional legitimacyDeepen political divisionsFuel public distrust

International partnerships cannot leave room for ambiguity on this point. Neutrality must be both real and visible.

When Security Becomes Political

The risks do not end there.

If Turkish-trained Somali forces are seen as becoming entangled in domestic political struggles, the fallout could stretch beyond Somalia itself.

Such a development would not only sharpen internal tensions — it could also expose Türkiye to:

Reputational damageDiplomatic complicationsPublic backlash within Somalia

This is not some distant hypothetical. In fragile states, the divide between national security and political power is often thin — and easily crossed.

The answer, though difficult in practice, is straightforward: security forces must remain professional, non-partisan and accountable to constitutional authority, not political figures.

The Geopolitical Reality

Somalia does not exist in isolation.

Its position in the Horn of Africa puts it at the center of overlapping regional and international interests. A close alignment with any single power risks pulling the country into rivalries it cannot manage.

Balanced foreign policy is not a luxury. It is a necessity.

Somalia should remain open to cooperation with Türkiye — but not with Türkiye alone. A broader mix of partners is not disloyalty. It is prudence.

Sovereignty Is the Test

In the end, the issue is not whether Türkiye has contributed to Somalia. It clearly has.

The real test is whether the current shape of the relationship strengthens Somalia’s sovereignty — or quietly limits it.

A healthy partnership should:

Build local capacityTransfer knowledgeEnsure transparent agreementsDeliver measurable benefits to citizens

Anything short of that risks creating a cycle of dependency that becomes harder to escape with time.

A Necessary Reset

Somalia does not need fewer partnerships. It needs better ones.

That requires:

Full parliamentary oversight of major agreementsPublic transparency on strategic contractsClear safeguards for national ownershipStrict neutrality in political and security mattersDiversification of international relationshipsThese are not extreme demands. They are the minimum standards of responsible statecraft.

The Bottom Line: The Somalia–Türkiye partnership is not beyond repair, but it should not be beyond scrutiny. The value of any foreign relationship is not measured by the praise it receives in the short term, but by whether it leaves a country stronger, more independent and firmly in control of its own future; by that standard, Somalia deserves nothing less.

By Abdifatah Abdinur, Puntland State’s State Minister of the Presidency

DISCLAIMER: The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Axadle’s editorial stance.