Turkey's soft power in Africa

Just two days before President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan arrived in Somalia on June 3, the al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorist organization al-Shabaab attacked a hotel in Mogadishu, the capital of the country, killing at least 15 people. Most strikingly the Ambassador Hotel is where Erdoğan and his delegation had stayed in their previous visit to Somalia. Having joined the president's trip to the "Horn of Africa" as part of the press last week, I was one of those in the convoy passing by this hotel -which has turned into a total ruin.

On our way from the airport to the Turkish Embassy, which Erdoğan opened together with Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, the Somali people were parading on the sidewalks. They saluted Erdoğan, who was visiting Somalia for the third time since 2011, all the way through, which lasted about half an hour. This extraordinary cheering was far from reasonless. 

Erdoğan has been the only foreign leader since 1991 visiting Somalia, i.e. moving beyond the airport in Mogadishu, which other leaders use for their meetings and afterwards leave very quickly. Moreover, there are only three countries which own an embassy in Somalia: Turkey, Qatar and Kenya. Some other countries operate at the airport in Mogadishu. In addition, Turkey's embassy in Somalia is its biggest diplomatic mission around the world.

This is why Turkey means a lot for Somalis. It is a country which "dares" to come over, to lend its hand against all odds. 

It is common to see aid packages and vehicles of the Turkish Red Crescent and the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) on the streets in Mogadishu which are labelled as "from the Turkish people to the Somali people." The only airport in the country, the only asphalt road in Mogadishu...