Abstract
Somalia has a special place in the foreign policy of the Justice
and Development Party (AK Party), which has been in power since November 2002.
Turkey's relations with Somalia started to develop after the official visit of
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Somalia on 19 August 2011, who was
the prime minister at that time, to support Somalis affected by severe drought
and civil war. After 2011, Turkey launched one of the largest humanitarian aid
campaigns in Somalia. Turkey has not only developed a soft power policy in
Somalia but also started to implement a hard power policy. In this respect,
Turkey has been training hundreds of Somali soldiers and police in both Ankara
and Mogadishu since 2012. At the same time, Turkey opened its largest military
base abroad in Somalia in 2017. This research explores the reasons and dynamics
behind Turkey's deepening of its security policy in Somalia and sheds light on
what Turkey's security policy means for Somalia. The research argues that there
is a combination of factors driving Turkey's security policy towards Somalia,
including socio-cultural, economic, and geopolitical. This study examines
Turkey's security policy with a holistic approach, using conceptual and
theoretical perspectives.
Keywords: Turkey, Somalia, Africa, Security, Justice and Development Party (AK Party), Foreign Policy.
Sıradağ, A. (October 2022). Turkey's Growing Role as a Security Actor in Somalia: Dynamics and Motivations, Journal of Academic Inquiries (JAI), Vol. 17, No. 2, pp. 389-404.
https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/akademikincelemeler/issue/72909/1115931
