Turkey installs military base in Somalia

Baku. 18 January. REPORT.AZ/ Turkey creates military base in Somalia, which is the first one in Africa, Report informs referring the Al-Jazeera. 

The head of the department, in charge of the Turkish Foreign Ministry in Somalia, Emil Tekin, said that the decision was taken within the framework of an agreement between the parties on military cooperation.

“This military training center will also be an important basis to provide military training to all Africa,” said Tekin, recalling that the base is the first in Turkey in Somalia.

On January 25 in 2015, Mogadishu and Ankara reached an agreement to increase military cooperation, which lasted almost a year until it was approved by the Defence Committee of the Turkish Parliament on December 9, 2015.

“Turkey has been a strategic partner for Somalia. We appreciate the efforts of the Turkish president (Recep Tayyip Erdogan) to assist the Somali people”, said the president of Somalia, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud.

On the other hand, Colonel Murat Yagan recalled that last year’s contract comes after two agreements which were signed in 2010 with Somalia about military training and financial support, saying that since that date, Turkey has been providing assistance to Somalia to increase the capacity of its security forces.

Tekin announced that Ankara also plans to build a military school in the African country to train both formal and non-commissioned officers, as the same time as he said that Mogadishu is willing to establish a military structure in order to fill the gaps they have on that matter.