Turkey’s unprecedented engagement in Somalia started in 2011 as a response to the catastrophic famine that ravaged the country at the time, while the most momentous event was the visit by then prime minister, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Since then, the Turkish-Somali relationship has been praised locally, regionally and has caught the attention of major global powers. In a short time, Turkey became one of the closest allies that Somalia has in the international political arena. The unparalleled success of Turkish assistance and aid projects in Somalia has yielded many responses and results. The most significant has been a direct review and renewed approach by other international donors that have been present in Somalia far longer than Turkey.
Instinctively, the curiosity and inquisitiveness about the Turkish assistance model in Somalia has become a global subject, not only for Western donors, but even the Muslim ones. Most importantly, two questions every global donor has asked themselves are how has Turkey’s assistance model become more effective and valuable, and what are the factors helping Turkey to accomplish all these projects to accelerate Somalia’s state recovery. These questions and more had been presented in the international political arena, which led to discussions and research directives at global research centers and entered multi-national political discourse. I am of the opinion that Turkey’s ability to accomplish this unprecedented success is as a result of two intertwined reasons.
History shapes the future
History is more than a path left by the past – it influences the present and can shape the future. Perhaps, what is undeniable is that history vitally influences any relationship and nations structure their relationship with the historical connections alongside their mutual interests. Moreover, for the past two decades, the world has seen a global socio-political shift in which emerging powers are entering into the international political arena with a unique foreign policy as compared to the elite powers. Turkey encompasses this shift, and the Ottoman Empire’s immaculate history has become a significant tool for Turkey’s foreign policy, an ultraclean civilization that was left by their ancestors in a wide range of former Ottoman territories without any record of colonization or exploitation. The strategic advantage is over and above the colonial history of their Western counterparts and the negative connotations associated with Western colonization. Of course, that allows Turkey to initiate close relationships with the majority of developing countries. Moreover, this is not only influenced by Ottoman history, but also by modern foreign policy decisions. Turkey’s leading party is deploying a unique foreign policy and strategy with key principles such as a non-political interference and, perhaps more significantly, provision of aid without special conditions, which in turn has inclusively shaped an era of aid diplomacy. This has assisted Turkey in engaging and establishing more responsible and realistic relationships with global partners and allies. Somalia remains a good example of this.