Turkey is deepening ties with Ethiopia and Somalia, cultivating commerce and even military connections. Middle East Eye recently reported:

Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) is signing two separate agreements with political parties in Ethiopia and Somalia to deepen strategic ties with the two East African countries.

On Wednesday, AKP’s deputy chairman, Zafer Sirakaya, met Abdurahman Mohamed Hussein, the secretary-general of Somalia’s ruling Union for Peace and Development Party (UPD), in Ankara to sign a memorandum of understanding for closer bilateral cooperation between the parties.

Turkish officials told Middle East Eye that a similar agreement will be signed with Ethiopia’s ruling Prosperity Party (PP) in Addis Ababa on Friday.

According to officials, the agreement will facilitate joint research, training, consultations and information sharing between the parties.

The AKP, which has ruled Turkey for two decades, hopes to pass on its governing experience to its allies in both countries, foster civil society collaboration and promote bilateral trade.

When it comes to the Horn of Africa, Turkey always considers Somalia, as political analysis Tunc Demirtas, said:

“What stands out here is that [Ankara] does not take any step in the region without considering Somalia. Somalia is included in every process”

Turkey has military ties with Somalia, as Middle East Eye also reports:

Somalia hosts a large Turkish military base in Mogadishu, while Turkish companies operate key infrastructure, including the city’s port and airport.

Amid tensions with Ethiopia, Somalia signed a defence and economic cooperation agreement with Turkey in February.

The agreement allowed Ankara to build, train and equip the Somali Navy and defend Somalia’s territorial waters.

The deal also granted Turkey the right to explore energy resources along Somalia’s coast.

Turkey’s ambitions in the Horn of Africa are to the horror of Saudi Arabia. Somalia stares right at the Arabian Peninsula from across the Gulf of Aden. The Arab Peninsula used to be under the control of the Ottoman Empire, which means Turkey has its crosshairs on the Saudis, never forgetting how those Gulf Arabs worked with the British to overthrow Ottoman power. If Turkey has a serious military presence within the Horn of Africa, it can invade the Gulf Arabs from across the Red Sea or the Gulf of Ade. If you don’t believe that the Arabs have a real fear of the Turks being in Africa, look at how the Saudis conspired for the toppling of Omar al-Bashir, the dictator who ruled Sudan. Al-Bashir was very close to Erdogan; this was to the consternation of the Saudis who eventually worked with the UAE, Egypt and figureheads within the Sudanese military to do a coup against al-Bashir. AP News reported that both Saudi Arabia and the UAE “had long viewed al-Bashir as a problem because of his close ties to Islamists, and had grown weary of his shifting loyalties and outreach to their rivals, Turkey and Qatar.” The same report recounts: “Four Egyptian security officials described their government’s quiet outreach and support for Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, a rare non-Islamist among Sudan’s top brass who now leads the ruling military council.” Jean-Baptiste Gallopin wrote that after al-Bashir was overthrown “the clients of Qatar and Turkey in Khartoum lost any role in policy.” Turkey is not stopping in its deepening of ties in the Horn of Africa, and with Africa in general, and this will be a problem for Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

In October of 2024, Reuters reported that “NATO member Turkey has ramped up its presence and influence in Africa in recent years, increasing trade nearly eight-fold, giving diplomatic and military support to some countries, and inking deals in various fields.”