Somalia puts its signature on a pact signed with Türkiye to safeguard its maritime domain and construct the naval base.

Government and parliament of Somali republic decreed - on Wednesday - a defense understanding with Turkey amidst its regional worries with Ethiopia which signed a document with the dissident area of Somaliland.

These arrangements under the defense pact, Turkey, a NATO member state, will help defend Somalia’s territorial waters and form a new naval force to secure the country’s troubled territorial waters in the Horn of Africa, as was hopefully explained by the President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud after a joint session of Parliament.

Mr. Sheikh Mahmoud declared, "The agreement taken to the parliament today will concern only the relations of Somalia and Turkey regarding maritime defense and economic issues and will definitely not cause people to hate or fight any other country or government."

The Somali President has said - before a a press conference - that there are "many violations in the Somali Sea for example, illegal fishing, terrorists and pirate's use, and pollution," which stress how the historic agreement concluded between the federal government and its Turkish counterpart in the field of defense and economic cooperation would help to settle all the crises.

He said, "The agreed agreement with the Turkish government for 10 years will be made, and the military Somali navy will be built, and it also pays better attention to the economic development and the development of natural resources.

Similarly, on his end, Somalia's Minster of Information, Dawud Awis Jama, spoke through X - a channel - on the agreement the two countries had signed, and how important it was.

A statement by Somali news website Garowe claims that the agreement offers Turkey “full authority” over Somali maritime areas, vessel traffic, and security.

The humanize town of Las Anod in Somaliland

The hostility between Somalia and Ethiopia loomed strong against the backdrop of the former (Al Jazeera) signing an agreement with the separatists in some parts of Somalia that have a coastline on the Gulf of Aden.

Tension with Ethiopia

Tension between Somalia and Ethiopia, the two neighbors in the coastal region of the Horn of Africa, has been peaking since February last year, which is the month when the rapprochement between Ethiopia and the Republic of Somaliland crystalized by signing a “memorandum of understanding” during which Ethiopia agreed to rent part of Somaliland’s coastal region measuring over 2050 years. Against this, Mogadishu condemned the “illegal” accord.

The Somaliland authorities have affirmed that in return for the sea access, Ethiopia will become the first state to legally recognize it accordingly; a situation which no one has done so far since this small region - populated by 4.5 million people - declared its independence unilaterally from Somalia in 1991.

On 8 XNUMX February, a yet-lined framework agreement on defense and economy between Turkey and Somalia was signed in the capital of Turkey, Ankara.

The document was inked at a time when the country's Defense Minister Abdi Khalif aw Geedka met with his Turkish counterpart in Turkey, Yasar Guler.

If ankara is concerned, it has very close ties with Somalia and it is its first economic partner, particularly in the fields of building industry, education, health, and military cooperation.

Somalia also inherits the largest Turkish military base and training center abroad, Turkish media noted on this.

Source: Agencies