Why is Somalia the Cornerstone of the Turkish Triangle?

You know, the description of "Geography is destiny" by the great philosopher and statesman Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406), who is considered one of the pioneers of modern history telling, sociology and economics. This determination, which is seen as an extremely correct approach when everything is left to its own devices and to fate, is accepted as a determination of Ibn Khaldun that transcends time. This fatalistic approach of his is explained in detail in the first volume of his seven-volume work called "Mukaddime". This two-word expression in semantic integrity is not a political or elitist sentence, but a determination of stasis based entirely on facts.

Undoubtedly, this paradigm of his has different meanings when it is based on the "geography-sociology-politics" trilogy. Of course, a completely fatalistic mentality requires submission, but being able to fight for life in that geography without bowing to that fatalistic mentality is an indispensable virtue of the national consciousness. The "Turkish Straits", consisting of the Bosphorus-Marmara Sea and the Dardanelles, and the "Horn of Africa", where Eritrea, Djibouti, Somalia and Ethiopia are located at the entrance to the Red Sea and resembles a rhinoceros horn, have similar geographical features in terms of sea passage criteria. But with a difference. While one of them has adopted it as a motto not to bow to fate, or rather to imperialism, colonialism and expansionism, the other one, it must be sadly stated, symbolizes a forced submission. Undoubtedly, the most important share in this belongs to Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and the "1936 Montreux Convention" envisaged by his genius.

On the other hand, the forced submission of Somalia took place one month apart in 1960, when the Italians invaded the south of Somalia; It stems from the fact that independent Somalia, which was born after the British withdrew from the north of Somalia, was first tested by drought, war and imperialism. The Republic of Turkey, which produces independent policies based in Ankara, for example, said "I am the boss of Montreux" during the RF-Ukraine War. was able to demonstrate his skills. Just like the late President Süleyman Demirel's famous saying "I will not let the GAP pass" with his famous Isparta accent, Turkey did not compromise on Montreux, and the importance of the "Turkish Straits" jargon was once again reminded to friends and enemies. All three countries, especially the USA, RF and Ukraine, forced Turkey to make concessions on this issue, but Turkey did not hesitate to do whatever was necessary by not making any concessions on Montreux. (one)

The multinational "Commonwealth of Central States", in a sense the Ottoman Commonwealth Countries, is perhaps the most important of the geopolitical theories inherited from the Ottoman Empire to the Republic of Turkey, the "Turkish Triangle" doctrinal approach. It consists of the "Strategic 'Turkish Triangle': Qatar, Somalia and Sudan" in a right triangle position. In parallel with the local-national development in the defense industry, the Turkish Armed Forces has re-embraced the stability of the countries in the region and the solid political principles produced in foreign relations based in Ankara, with its efforts to establish military bases abroad. Somalia, one of the Horn of Africa countries with a coastline of 1,400 kilometers in the Yemen Sea and 1,800 kilometers in the Indian Ocean, has long been within Turkey's geopolitical area of interest.

In this context, it has previously carried out security patrol duty on behalf of the UN against pirates (?) with the Turkish Naval Forces, which have the ability and ability to sail ships in all seven seas. The Turkish Armed Forces, which established a base in Somalia during this duty, then activated the "TAF Land Component Command" in Qatar, despite all the reactions of the Gulf countries. The Turkish Armed Forces, which has been providing training on the renewal of the Somali army and training officers, has strengthened its position at two separate strategic points by carrying out similar activities in Qatar. The Republic of Turkey, which created an imaginary line between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Aden, made a third strategic move and revived the strategic Turkish Triangle for the establishment of Suakin Island in Sudan in 2017. "Seakin Island", located at the third corner of the Strategic Turkish Triangle, on the coast of the Red Sea, known as the pilgrimage gate of Africa, has been of extremely strategic importance for both Muslims and regional trade for centuries. (2)

Another island similar to Savakin Island was Adakale, located on the Danube River, which was of great importance for the Ottoman Danube Navy. As you know, the Ottoman Empire also had the Al Jazeera Navy on the Euphrates Tigris. Geography determines the force structure, and if it is not claimed as a state, other states will claim those regions, just like the Suez Canal. Announcing that it would protect the rights of the Europeans in Egypt, Britain first plundered the property of the Europeans with the help of the British Intelligence Service (BIS), and then occupied Alexandria with the Mediterranean Fleet on September 15, 1882, and occupied Egypt and the Suez Canal. There is nothing the Ottoman Empire could do, and there was nothing.

Adakale Island, located in today's Romanian territory and inhabited by the Turkish population, was virtually pushed under water with the construction of the Demirkapı Dam in 1968, by the efforts of Romanian President Nikolay Ceausescu and Yugoslavian Leader Josip Broz Tito. With the completion of the hydroelectric power plant jointly built by Romania and Yugoslavia on the Danube River in 1970, it was submerged under the rising waters of the Danube River. However, a great effort was made to leave Adakale under Turkish sovereignty during the 8.5-month-long Lausanne negotiations. Adakale is the last Turkish land lost by the Turks on the Danube River with the Treaty of Lausanne on July 24, 1923. (3)

Somalia, which gained independence from Italy and England in 1960, was faced with regional problems in the context of falling under the yoke of imperialism again. For example, although the desert Ogedan region, with a surface area of 200 thousand km2, was a region inhabited by Somalis, it was knowingly ceded to Ethiopia in 1954 by imperialism, which wanted a chaotic and infected region with the potential for war in the Horn of Africa. One feels like saying "Oh, my "Beautiful Africa" for Africa, which is deprived of freedom.

"Djibouti", the 23,200 km² French Somaliland at the entrance of the Babelmandeb Strait, also gained independence in 1977, but could not even think of unifying with Somalia in order to prevent France from coming over again. Djibouti, which has transformed its geopolitical power, which it puts at the service of powerful world actors with its 370 km coast overlooking the Babelmandeb Strait, comparable to the Turkish Straits, into an annual gross domestic product of 5.6 billion dollars, has turned into a complete chain of international bases. Djibouti, which was called French Somalia when it was a colony, gained its independence in 1977; It had to accept the existence of French air and naval bases where 1,450 French soldiers were stationed. France, using piracy in the Yemen Sea as an excuse, has ensured the permanent deployment of a German and Spanish company each at the naval base in Djibouti and an Italian company at the air base since 2009. (4)

Fragmented Somalia, on the other hand, had a hard time developing due to the bad climate that made agriculture difficult. Due to drought and unsuitable climate conditions for agriculture, Somalia found itself in a military dictatorship regime in 1969; For this reason, it had to approach the Eastern Bloc in the 1970s. Finally, after the war with Ethiopia in 1977, Ogedan "exhausted" and fell into the trap of Western imperialism again. The exhausted Somali people overthrew the "dictatorial regime" by force in 1991 and collapsed the state; They fell into a bloody civil war that would leave them stateless and armyless for 21 years. (5)

The Civil War environment is an environment that Western imperialism cannot miss. Just like the Arab Spring, Western imperialism, which does not want to miss this chaotic environment, has activated the UN and established the UN Operation (The United Nations Operation in Somalia, UNOSOM I-II) and the Unified Task Force (The Unified) in Somalia in order to ensure stability and provide humanitarian aid. Task Force UNITAF) and sent troops to Somalia under the guise of the UN force since April 1992. Approximately 22 thousand peacekeepers of the US-led coalition forces under the umbrella of the UN tried to control Somalia with an operation they called "Operation Hope".

Following the US command failure, a Turkish mechanized infantry company first served in Somalia between 2 January 1993 and 22 February 1994, and the command of UNITAF was handed over to a Turkish Lieutenant General between 4 May 1993 and 18 January 1994. It should not be forgotten that Turkey, which prioritizes international legal grounds above all else, sent troops to Somalia for a year between 1993 and 1994, under the umbrella of the United Nations (UN), for the first time after Korea. However, during this period when it first stepped into Somalia, the USA, which attempted to intervene to shape the Somali administration in accordance with its own interests, was struck by lightning on October 3-4, 1993. In a street conflict with militia groups that did not want imperialism in their country, 18 US soldiers were killed and 75 were injured; Some killed US soldiers were hung from poles by their feet and displayed in the streets of Mogadishu; When these images were published, the American public was outraged. A few months later, there was not a single US soldier left in Somalia; To serve the interests of the USA, other states in Somalia - including Turkey - evacuated their soldiers from the region until 1995. (5)

The Hollywood film industry, which is the media voice of the US public, released a movie called "Black Hawk Down" about the Mogadishu conflict in 1993 in 2001.

Expansionist West expelled from Somali lands; After 1995, this time, it seized the fish resources of unprotected Somali waters - worth 24 billion dollars annually - with illegal fishing vessels. In Somalia, where deaths from starvation increased abnormally because their fish were stolen, fishermen, as if it were not enough for them to return from the sea empty-handed, also witnessed some of the Western civilian ships passing through the region - ostensibly - burying chemical and radioactive waste in Somali waters. This is the reason behind piracy or piracy in the region, which the West attempts to express in capital letters. This situation naturally led to the beginning of attacks and kidnappings on foreign fishing vessels poaching in Somalia's Blue Homeland and foreign merchant vessels passing through Somali waters. Although seizing small fishing boats and merchant ships is not as easy to achieve as it seems, only a few of the hundreds of attempts by Somali fishermen have been successful, and a few hijacked merchant ships have been released by receiving compensation for burial of radioactive/chemical waste.

When Ethiopia, which is landlocked and has the status of a "landlocked country", intervened in the Somali Civil War between 2006 and 2009, with the hope of being able to go to sea and, of course, with the enthusiastic encouragement of the West, the balances in Somalia were completely confused. Seeing that Muslim Somalia was being invaded by Christian Ethiopia, the fundamentalist Islamic part of Somalia established the radical Al-Shabaab (Young Mujahideen Movement) Organization in 2007, with a military force of 10 thousand people. This organization started to fight with the coalition forces of Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Burundi and Djibouti, which were assigned by the African Union to ensure stability in Somalia and whose total number exceeded 20 thousand. Al-Shabaab Organization, known for its lack of consensus among the parties to the Somali Civil War, has over time turned into a global terrorist organization motivated by the West, responsible for the massacre of hundreds of innocent civilians in Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya.

The year 2011 brought with it another disaster. In 2011, known as the worst drought of the last 60 years, 4 million people faced hunger in Somalia. In a sense, the West imposed conditional economic support on Somalia, which was in a state of "economic exhaustion". However, in the face of this situation, a merciless and unconditional friendly hand reached out to Somalia from Turkey, and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan took action as a friendly helping hand. A turning point was created in the relations of the two states with President Erdoğan's visit on 19 August 2011, ignoring all dangers. With the implementation of the Framework Agreement dated 22 May 2010 and the Military Training Cooperation Agreements dated 13 April 2012 between Turkey and Somalia, protocols regarding issues such as the allocation of barracks land, the status of the forces, and the decision of the Council of Ministers regarding the sending of the Turkish Task Force to Somalia, the Turkish Task Force was established in August 2017. He also made his first transfer to Somalia.

Turkey preferred to provide its aid to Somalia unconditionally, by delivering it directly to those in need, without intermediaries, despite the possible dangers of instability. Although the stubborn independence claim of the "Somaliland" state in the north continues, the end of tribal conflicts in Somalia in 2012, the permanent establishment of the government and the transition to the constitutional order in 2016 have made Turkey's difference even more evident. Turkey's humanitarian approaches in Africa have placed the concept of "Turkish Style Humanitarian Aid" in world literature. Turkey, which does not seek "return" for its infrastructure, transportation and diplomacy support in Somalia, and established its largest embassy in the world in this country, has established hospitals, tent cities, schools and orphanages; gave agriculture-livestock training; provided scholarship opportunities from universities. He knew how to win the love of Somalis by establishing a throne in their hearts. However, as predicted, in this period of transition to stability in Somalia, the political and economic footsteps of imperialism began to be felt and heard again.

The Somali Turkish Task Force (STGK), located at the Anatolian Barracks in the capital Mogadishu, which forms the corner of the Turkish Triangle that provides great support to the development of Somalia, constitutes the driving force of this movement. The Turkish Armed Forces (TAF), which has been training the Somali army since September 30, 2017, shares its experiences, especially in the fight against terrorism. Within the scope of the training activities of the STGK Command, 417 officers have graduated from the Military Academy and 422 non-commissioned officers from the Non-Commissioned Officer School in Somalia. Currently, 230 students, 200 in the Military Academy and 30 in the Petty Officer Basic Training class, are receiving training from Turkish officers and petty officers. Within the scope of unit training, battalion training is provided to Somali Infantry Battalions. A total of 10 battalions of forces were delivered to the Somali National Army within the scope of the training of Somali Infantry Battalions between 2019-2022. (7)

After all this, what I mean is that the "Defense and Economic Cooperation Agreement" signed with Somalia on February 8, 2024 and the bilateral military cooperation agreement signed with Djibouti on February 19, 2024 will be the guarantee of peace and stability in the Horn of Africa, and no one should worry about this. should not be. In order to strengthen the friendship between Turkey and Somalia and to improve the organization, education, training, military infrastructure and logistics systems of the Somali army, Anadolu Barracks has been carrying out training and consultancy activities since September 30, 2017. Dear readers, air and naval force personnel are the assurance of the future and the new Somalia being built.

References: 

(1) Esat Arslan, “Zelenskiy Türkiye’ye Geliş Amacı Neydi?”, STRASAM, 11.03.2024; https://Strasam.Org/Ua-İliskiler/Uluslararasi-Politika/Zelenskiy-Turkiyeye-Gelis-Amaci-Neydi-3022/ Erişim Tarihi 17.03.2024/

(2) “Stratejik ‘Türk Üçgeni’: Katar, Somali ve Sudan”, Stratejik Ortak, 13 Kasım 2018; Https://Stratejikortak.Com/2018/11/Stratejik-Turk-Ucgeni-Katar-Somali-Ve-Sudan.Html /Erişim Tarihi 17.03.2024/

(3) H. Yıldırım Ağanoğlu, “Tuna nehri'ndeki son Osmanlı: Adakale”, skyroad sitesi, 08 Kasım 2021; https://www.gzt.com/skyroad/tuna-nehrindeki-son-osmanli-adakale-3598096/Erişim Tarihi 17.03.2024/

(4) Halil Özsaraç, “Cibuti Üsler Diyarı”, Aydınlık Gazetesi, 02 Mart 2024, s.10

(5) Halil Özsaraç, “Emperyalizme karşı dost arayışındaki Somali’ye uzatılan Türk eli-I”, Aydınlık Gazetesi, 09 Mart 2024; https://www.aydinlik.com.tr/koseyazisi/emperyalizme-karsi-dost-arayisindaki-somaliye-uzatilan-turk-eli-i-458932/ Erişim Tarihi 17.03.2024/

(6) Halil Özsaraç, “Emperyalizme karşı dost arayışındaki Somali’ye uzatılan Türk eli-II”, Aydınlık Gazetesi, 16 Mart 2024; https:// https://www.aydinlik.com.tr/koseyazisi/emperyalizme-karsi-turkiye-ve-somali-el-ele-ii-460586 / Erişim Tarihi 17.03.2024/

(7) Hanife Akliman, “Somali’nin geleceği MEHMETÇİĞE EMANET” Sabah Gazetesi, 12 Mart 2024, s.5