The Turkish National Assembly has approved the presidential decree of Recep Tayyip Erdogan to send Turkish forces to Somalia for two years.

The mission of the Turkish force in Somalia is to support the activities of the Turkish armed forces to guarantee the security of Somalia from terrorism, sea piracy, illegal fishing, all kinds of smuggling and other threats.

In the letter signed by President Erdogan and sent to the presidium of the National Assembly, it is noted that within the framework of the agreements in force between Turkey and Somalia, training, assistance and advisory activities continue to ensure security and stability in Somalia and that the international community has continued to provide support for more than 10 years to restructure Somalia’s defense and security forces and ensure they have the capacity to fight terrorism.

The Turkish military presence in Somalia dates back to September 2017, and the capital Mogadishu is home to the largest Turkish military base abroad, where Somali military forces are trained.

With the new presidential decree, the deployment of Turkish armed forces in Somalia for a period of two years will take place in areas to be jointly determined by the two countries, including areas of maritime jurisdiction.

Recently, Turkey’s Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said that as part of the hydrocarbon exploration and production agreement signed between Turkey and Somalia, Turkey will search for natural gas and oil “in three offshore fields within the limits of its maritime jurisdiction Somalia”. These are three areas of approximately five thousand square kilometers each and a total of 15,000 square kilometers. Two of these marine plots are located approximately 50 kilometers from the coast and one is located 100 kilometers from the coast. In the first phase, three-dimensional seismic activities will be carried out in these areas. For this purpose, the seismic survey ship Oruc Reis and accompanying ships will depart for Somalia in late September, early October.

MP Cemaletin Kani Torun, of the opposition Islamist Happiness Party (Saaded), called on the Turkish government to be careful on this issue, saying that Turkey will also send warships to the region regarding the security of the hydrocarbon research facilities that will be established there. but the Somaliland region, which has unilaterally declared itself autonomous in the north, announced a few days ago that it would not allow Turkey to use its territorial waters.

The main opposition Kemalist Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democracy and Equality Party (DEM) voted against the presidential decree.