What is the connection between displacements and radicalization? How does al-Shabaab utilize displaced people? In what ways may al-Shabaab be empowered by Somali IDP camps?

Türkiye has been following a multidimensional and multilateral foreign policy for the last two decades of the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) governments. While it has been trying to maintain its alliance with the Western states, Ankara has been trying to improve its relations with the non-Western world, including the Global South. Anchored in the principles of regionalism and minilateralism, Turkish foreign policy is shaped within the framework of the “Century of Türkiye” vision and the grand strategy called the “Türkiye Axis.”

The latest agreement between Türkiye and Somalia reflects the upgrade of already strategic bilateral relations while demonstrating increasingly robust Turkish naval capabilities and expanding naval activism. The "Defense and Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement" signed between Türkiye and Somalia on Feb. 8, 2024, was approved shortly after by the Somali Parliament and subsequently by the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TBMM). In March 2024, the “Agreement Between the Government of the Republic of Türkiye and the Government of the Federal Republic of Somalia in the Field of Oil and Natural Gas” and the “Memorandum of Understanding Between the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources of the Republic of Türkiye and the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources of the Federal Republic of Somalia on Onshore and Offshore Blocks in Somalia” were signed. The Oruç Reis seismic research vessel, which embarked on its first intercontinental mission, set sail on Oct. 5 as part of the oil and gas exploration agreement signed between Türkiye and Somalia in March.

Somalia-Türkiye Relations | Achievements and Challenges on Security and Stabilisation