Reaching Out to Somalia

Abstract

In August 2011, the famine’s escalating death toll in Somalia was pointing to a new humanitarian catastrophe. In this devastating situation, Turkey not only spoke out but decided to take the initiative in helping Somalia. On August 19, the Mogadishu Airport received the first visit to Somalia from a non-African state leader in nearly two decades. President Erdoğan, then Prime Minister, visited Mogadishu with two planeloads of people despite all the security warnings against travel. The primary goal of the visit was to raise awareness of the humanitarian disaster in Sub-Saharan Africa and to encourage an altruistic conscience on the part of the rest of the world. Turkey’s visit to Somalia was deemed an influential step to improving the perception of the forsaken country. Once the Turkish delegation had witnessed the fundamental problems, the dimensions of Turkey’s cooperation were expanded. Turkey, on different occasions, reiterated its commitment to solving the chronic underlying problems that had led to the hardships that Somalia had suffered. A broad literature confirms that Turkey has a special place in the eyes of the Somali people, which diverges from their perception of traditional assistance providers. In this context, this chapter explains not only what Turkey has done in Somalia, but also how it has done it, and thereby has made a major difference.