Turkey continues to solidify and strengthen it’s foothold in the Horn of Africa with Somalia being the major interest due to its strategic positioning, as it tries to strengthen Turkey-Somalia ties.
Turkey is talks with Somalia to setup a site for it’s long range missile testing and and space rocket launchpad Bloomberg reports.
Somalia‘s location on the eastern tip of mainland Africa, near the equator, makes it an ideal site for space activities, as launches near the equator enhance the range and efficiency of rockets. Despite non of the two parties announcing publicly about the issue, Turkey is positive that the talks are to bare good results.
Turkey aims to improve it’s long range missile capabilities through the test fires of its Tayfun missiles which are said to have a range of about 560 kilometers .
Turkey has turned out to be a key mediator in the conflicts in the Horn of Africa between Ethiopia and Somalia as it has trade and economic ties with Ethiopia and over a decade long relationship with Somalia that began around 2011 when Turkish president Recep Tayip Erdogan first visited the country.
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Somalia harbours the largest Turkish overseas base with allows them to forge strong security ties where hundreds of Turkish military personnel train the Somalia army helping them regain stability in the country that has been ravaged by insurgency for years by the terrorist group Al-shabaab.
Turkish is set to deploy a research vessel of the Somalia coast for hydrocarbon exploration as part of an agreement with the Somalian government.
Turkey has also partnered with Somalia in other sectors such as Health and also education facilitating higher education for Somali scholars in Turkey.
