Turkey’s close Somalia ties raise questions in the Horn of Africa
By Abdi Ismail SamatarSaturday April 25, 2026
Turkey has cast Somalia as a gateway to the Horn of Africa and, potentially, far beyond. But that ambition can only take root if Somalia first regains political stability. Trying to rebuild the Somali Defence Force without a clear national political framework is like setting out on a long trip with no map.
In 2011, the West bluntly blamed al-Shabaab for Somalia’s famine. Yet the deeper cause was American policy under the Obama Administration, which blocked food deliveries to…