
Turkish Chief of Staff General Hulusi Akar, second left, and Somali Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khayre, second right, receive a salute from a Somali soldier at combined Turkey-Somali training center during his visit to Mogadishu, Somalia, Sept. 30, 2017. Farah Abdi Warsame/AP
The military base in Somalia is also a reminder that despite Turkey’s growing regional and national problems, Africa remains central to its global expansion strategy.
Turkey has opened its largest overseas military base in Somalia, cementing its relationship with the war-torn nation and strengthening its strategic place in the African continent.
The $50 million base was opened on Saturday (Sept. 30) and will train more than 10,000 soldiers. The move is part of an effort to institutionalize and restructure the police and military services, battle the terrorist group al-Shabaab, and help expand the government’s authority into more towns and regions. The new base also takes on an urgent significance as the 2020 withdrawal deadline for the 22,000 African Union multinational force gets closer.