International Relations & DiplomacyPolicy Outlook

Turkey in Africa: A Decade of Turkish Aid and State-Building in Somalia

Written by: Abdinor Hassan Dahir

This policy outlook assesses three dimensions of Turkey’s engagement in Somalia, in a bid to gauge to what extent Ankara’s decade of aid and state-building in Somalia has been effective.

Over the past decade, Turkish engagement in Somalia has served bilateral relations well. Somalia benefits from Turkish aid projects to help avert famines and fuel its post-conflict reconstruction process. The next Somali administration will likely continue the current trajectory and Turkey will remain popular among Somalis for the foreseeable future. On the other hand, Somalia has profoundly impacted Turkey’s profile as a middle power eager to increase its engagement with Africa. Somalia has become Turkey’s gateway to Sub-Saharan Africa, creating new opportunities for Ankara’s foreign policy in the region, and enhancing its status as a global actor.

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Abdinor Hassan Dahir
Abdinor Hassan Dahir
Abdinor Hassan Dahir is a Deputy Researcher at TRT World Research Centre, and Project Coordinator for the TRT World Citizen initiative. Prior to joining TRT World, Abdinor was a Ship Chartering Executive at Negmar Denizcilik Yatirim A.S in Istanbul, and a permanent Secretary at Faculty of Management Sciences at SIMAD University in Somalia. He was trained and worked at the Public Relations Department at Sakarya Metropolitan Municipality in Turkey. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Business and Management and a Master of Arts in Political Science and Public Administration from Sakarya University in Turkey, with a thesis titled “Aid in Foreign Policy: the case of Turkey-Somalia Relations”. His main research interests include foreign policy, development studies, foreign aid, Turkish-Africa relations, and African governance and geopolitics.

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