MOGADISHU – Somali Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire has held talks with Turkey’s ambassador to Mogadishu, Mehmet Yilmaz in Mogadishu.
Mr. Khaire and Amb. Yilmaz discussed on some issues, including recent agenda of bilateral relations between Ankara and Mogadishu.
Amb. Yilmaz promised to strengthen the existing strong diplomatic ties.
Last week, a Turkish national was killed in car bomb explosion in the Somali capital, Mogadishu.
The victim, a construction engineer, working for a Turkish company in Somalia, was mercilessly blown up when explosives planted in his car exploded near KM 4 area of Mogadishu.
Somali armed group al Shabaab, an al Qaeda-affiliated group has claimed to have been responsible for the bomb explosion.
However, Turkey is among the very few international actors who believed in Somalia’s success and have subsequently invested in Somalia’s development.
In August 2011, Ankara launched its most extensive overseas humanitarian campaign to avert a devastating famine that killed around 260,000 people in the Horn of the African nation.
Turkey enjoys strong diplomatic, economic and defense cooperation with Somalia since the first high profile visit paid by Turkey’s Rajab Tayyip Erdogan to Mogadishu.
Ankara has, since then refurbished Mogadishu Airport, renovated main roads in the city, upgraded and manages the port of the capital of Mogadishu.
Turkey also opened biggest military academy in Mogadishu, which is termed as largest Turkish built military base in Africa to train Somali army battling against al Qaeda linked Al Shabaab.
