What the Somalia bombing ahead of Erdo?an's visit shows

An attack against a hotel in the Somali capital of Mogadishu on Jan. 22 killed five people, including two suicide bombers, on the eve of Turkish President Tayyip Erdo?an?s visit to Somalia. A Turkish delegation preparing for Erdo?an?s visit has been staying at the hotel, in front of which a Turkish flag had been raised. Yet another terrorist attack to be condemned...

Reuters reported that al-Shabaab, the Somalian branch of al-Qaeda, claimed responsibility for the attack. Al-Shabaab had previously attacked the Turkish Embassy and Turkish Airlines targets in Somalia in 2013. It had also hit Istanbul in 2003 in twin attacks on Nov. 15 and 20, killing a total of 54 people and wounding dozens.

Erdo?an, who was in Ethiopia yesterday as the first stop of his East Africa tour, made it clear through the Turkish Embassy in Mogadishu that he was not going to cancel his trip just because of the terrorist attack. For his second stop, Erdo?an is scheduled to visit Djibouti, before heading to Somalia.

The attack took place at a critical time. On the same day, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavu?o?lu was in London to attend an international conference on counter-terrorism, with a particular focus on jihadist movements - particularly the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and al-Qaeda.

In Yemen, on the southwestern tip of the Arabian Peninsula, right across from Ethiopia, Djibouti and Somalia across the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, the Houthi ethnic-based Ansarullah movement, backed by Iran, has just staged a coup. Power-sharing talks are now under way with the current government. 

Yemen is a country with major al-Qaeda activity. The Yemeni branch of al-Qadea claimed responsibility for the Jan. 7 attacks on French satirical...