MOGADISHU, Somalia – Somalia’s speaker of the lower house of parliament met Thursday with Turkish Ambassador Ibrahim Mete Yagli in the capital Mogadishu, praising the role Türkiye is playing in the East African nation’s state building, development, and war against the al-Shabaab terrorist group.
Sheikh Adan Mohamed Nur Madobe, the Speaker of the House of the People, condemned Monday’s terrorist attack in the Turkish capital Ankara, and expressed his condolences to the Turkish Ambassador.
According to a brief statement issued by the speaker’s office after the meeting, Madobe praised the role of the Turkish government in the ongoing fight against terrorism in Somalia.
They also discussed the support by Türkiye to the Somali parliament and the strengthening of relations and cooperation between the parliaments of Somalia and Türkiye.
Madobe is the second highest-ranking official to praise Türkiye’s role in Somalia in less than 15 days.
Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud was the first world leader to condemn the terrorist attack in Ankara.
“In Somalia, we stand firmly with the brotherly people and government of the Republic of Türkiye and strongly condemn the heinous terrorist attack in Ankara,” he said in a statement on X.
“This act of evil cowardice aimed at hurting innocent lives fills us with determination to stand together against terror,” he added.
Mohamud expressed his deep appreciation to Türkiye for continuing to support his country’s development, security, and humanitarian needs late last month after he met with a delegation led by the Turkish Ambassador in the central town of Dhusamareb.
Somalia has been enjoying a close economic, diplomatic, and military friendship with Türkiye that has grown since Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited the country in 2011.
Since then, Türkiye has built an 80,000-square-meter (861,112-square-foot) embassy in Mogadishu, its biggest embassy in Africa.
Turkish humanitarian organizations also operate in the country and helped avert a famine in 2022. Somalia has witnessed one of its worst droughts in four decades in the last two years.
Last month, the Turkish Embassy in Mogadishu hosted a signing ceremony for a joint venture agreement between a Turkish and Somali company to build a biogas power plant in Mogadishu.
According to the embassy, the plant will have a production capacity of 5.6 MW/hour, providing energy to around 40,000 homes by the end of 2024.
Somalia also anticipates opening a Ziraat Bank branch in Mogadishu, which will be the first Turkish bank in Somalia.
AA
