Why Turkey Wants Somalia: A New Ottoman Empire?

On 28 January 2026, three Turkish F-16s landed in Mogadishu. Soon after, Somalia’s defence minister confirmed the deployment. By the summer, Somalia said the jets were striking al-Shabaab, the armed group fighting its government.

The jets are only the newest piece of a long build-up: a training base, warships, a drillship and a spaceport. So why does Turkey want Somalia, and what does Somalia get in return? This guide to Turkey Somalia relations sets out each side’s case, and asks whether critics are right to call it a new Ottoman empire.

How did Turkey get into Somalia? The 2011 famine visit

It starts with a famine. From late 2010 to early 2012, famine in Somalia killed about 258,000 people, according to FEWS NET, the famine early-warning network.

While the famine raged, on 19 August 2011, Turkey’s prime minister at the time, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, flew into Mogadishu. He was the first leader from outside Africa to visit in nearly 20 years. Turkish Airlines began flying to Mogadishu in March 2012.

Over the years, Turkey says, it has given more than $1bn in aid. Meanwhile, Turkish firms took over Mogadishu’s airport in 2013 and its seaport in 2014. Somalia’s auditor general says the two brought the state about $42 million in 2025.

Later, in 2016, Turkey opened in Mogadishu what it calls its biggest embassy in the world. Across Africa, its embassies grew from 12 in 2002 to 44 by 2024, by the Turkish government’s count. Both presidents now speak of “strong brotherly relations”.

But aid alone does not explain warships and fighter jets.

Turkey Somalia military ties: from a training base to F-16s

Why does Somalia need help?

Somalia’s government is still at war with al-Shabaab, which holds much of the rural south. In June 2026, a US think tank, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the group was stronger than it had been in years. The government says attacks in Mogadishu are down nearly 87% since 2023, though it has not published its data.

An African Union force is authorised for up to 11,826 personnel under UN Security Council resolution 2809. Its mandate runs to 31 December 2026, and it is short of money. That is where Turkey comes in.

Turkey’s answer: train, then strike

Turkey’s training base in Mogadishu, known as TURKSOM, opened on 30 September 2017 at a cost of about $50 million. Today it is Turkey’s largest overseas training base. It has trained thousands of Somali soldiers, including the Gorgor commandos.

Then came Turkish drones, flown by Turkish crews: Bayraktar TB2s from 2022 and, reportedly, Akıncı drones in 2025. Next came the F-16s, in January 2026. On 30 June, Somalia said Turkish F-16s had struck al-Shabaab at Goday, in Lower Shabelle.

The strikes have a cost. Amnesty International says strikes with Turkish drones in March 2024 killed 23 civilians, 14 of them children. Somalia’s government, however, said those strikes killed more than 30 militants.

Why does Turkey guard Somalia’s waters?

On 1 January 2024, Ethiopia signed a memorandum with Somaliland. Somaliland says it is an independent state; Mogadishu says it is part of Somalia. The deal reportedly offered landlocked Ethiopia 20 km of coast for 50 years.

Five weeks later, on 8 February 2024, Mogadishu signed a ten-year defence and economic deal with Ankara. Officials say Turkey will build, train and equip Somalia’s navy and help patrol its waters. Ankara says it is defending Somalia’s sovereignty and unity. Turkey’s parliament approved a deployment in July 2024, and in July 2026 it extended the mission to July 2028.

Then Turkey turned peacemaker. In December 2024, it brokered the Ankara Declaration between Ethiopia and Somalia, and technical talks began two months later. A year after the declaration, Ankara and Mogadishu agreed to cooperate on fishing too.

The Turkey Somalia oil deal: who benefits?

Under Somalia’s waters, Turkey is looking for oil and gas. In March 2024, the two countries signed a hydrocarbons agreement. In July 2024, the Turkish state oil company TPAO signed a contract for three offshore blocks.

Then, in 2025, the contract’s terms became public. TPAO may keep up to 90% of the output until its costs are paid back. Somalia gets a royalty of 5%. That 90% is a ceiling for cost recovery, not ownership of the oil.

But critics call the terms lopsided, and one Somali lawmaker asks who really benefits. President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud defends the deal. He says no other country has been willing to look for Somalia’s oil. In his view, the deal gives Somalia its first chance to explore.

Out at sea, the survey ship Oruç Reis spent about seven months mapping the seabed. On 9 April 2026, the drillship Çağrı Bey arrived. Its well, Curad-1, lies about 370 km from Mogadishu, in water about 3.5 km deep, and is planned to reach about 7.5 km down. No result had been made public by early October 2026. Officials expect one by the end of the year.

Key numbers	Figure
Ankara to Mogadishu	about 4,400 km
Deaths in the 2010-2012 famine	about 258,000
Turkish aid to Somalia (Turkey’s count)	more than $1bn
Port and airport revenue for Somalia, 2025	about $42.2 million
TURKSOM training base	opened 2017, about $50 million
African Union force ceiling	up to 11,826 personnel, mandate to 31 December 2026
Turkish troop mandate	extended to July 2028
Oil contract	up to 90% of output for cost recovery; 5% royalty
Curad-1 well	about 370 km offshore; about 3.5 km of water; planned depth about 7.5 km
Spaceport site (satellite images)	about 900 km²
Turkish embassies in Africa	12 in 2002, 44 by 2024

Why is Turkey building a spaceport in Somalia?

In September 2024, Bloomberg reported that Turkey wanted a site in Somalia to launch rockets and to test long-range missiles. At the end of 2025, Turkey’s industry minister said construction had begun. Satellite images suggest a site of about 900 km², and Turkey says it should be ready in early 2027.

Turkey has not officially published the exact site, and reports differ. Some, based on satellite images, place it on the southern coast near Kismayo, in Jubaland, one of Somalia’s federal member states. Le Monde, however, reported construction near Warsheikh, about 70 km north of Mogadishu.

Why build it in Somalia at all? Because the country sits close to the equator, where the Earth’s surface moves fastest as it spins. Launch a rocket east from there, and the planet’s spin gives it a free push. East of the coast, moreover, there is only open ocean to fly over.

Ankara says the spaceport serves its space programme and its independence in space. In October 2026, Erdoğan told the International Astronautical Congress in Antalya that construction was under way. Days later, Industry Minister Mehmet Fatih Kacır said Turkey intends to use the site for its own rocket and missile launches, according to Dawan, a Somali news site. He did not say which missiles. Critics have long worried that the site could become a range for long-range missiles.

So Turkey’s footprint now runs from the army to the sea, and from oil to rockets. Is this a new empire?

A new Ottoman empire? The history behind the label

The Ottomans have been here before. In 1542, Ottoman musketeers and cannon fought in the Horn of Africa beside Ahmad Grañ of Adal. They fought against an Ethiopia backed by Portugal.

In 1557, the Ottomans created a Red Sea province, Habesh. It took in the ports of Massawa and Suakin and, by the end of that decade, Zeila on the Somali coast, at least on paper. In the 1580s, an Ottoman corsair, Mir Ali Beg, sailed down this coast from Mocha. Mogadishu, like most ports on the coast, pledged allegiance to the Ottoman sultan.

That pledge was brief and symbolic. The Ottomans never ruled the Somali south.

The modern label is neo-Ottomanism. It is often linked to Strategic Depth, a 2001 book by Ahmet Davutoğlu. As foreign minister, though, Davutoğlu rejected the label. Why, he asked, are those who united the whole of Europe not called neo-Romans?

Erdoğan says Turkey’s history has “no stain of colonialism”. He offers Africa an “equal partnership” on a “win-win basis”. Still, Turkey now keeps troops in northern Cyprus, Qatar, northern Iraq and Libya, as well as Somalia. In 2017, Sudan handed Turkey the old Ottoman port of Suakin to restore; Turkey denies wanting a base there.

So the Ottoman link is real, but it is thin: a few ports, a war and a pledge. Turkey’s wider rivalry with Israel, which now reaches this coast, is explored in Israel vs Turkey.

Who are Turkey’s rivals in Somalia, and what is the price?

The UAE, Israel and Somaliland

Turkey is not the only power on this coast. Emirati companies run the ports of Berbera, in Somaliland, and Bosaso, in Puntland. In January 2026, Mogadishu cancelled every agreement with the UAE, accusing it of undermining Somalia’s unity. Somaliland and Puntland refused to follow.

Then there is Israel. On 26 December 2025, it recognised Somaliland as a state. Erdoğan called it “illegitimate and unacceptable”. In March 2026, reports said Israel was planning a base near Berbera. On 3 October 2026, Somalia’s president said there would be no Israeli presence “under any circumstances”. Two days later, Somaliland rejected Mogadishu’s claims. Our article on why Israel wants a base in Somaliland explains that rivalry.

Egypt now sides with Mogadishu and has promised troops for the African Union force. Meanwhile, Ethiopia still wants a way to the sea, a story told in Ethiopia war explained and why everyone suddenly wants Eritrea.

The price inside Somalia

Inside Somalia, the president’s term has been extended. The opposition calls that unlawful and says there is still no deal on an election.

On 3 September 2026, a blast hit Doolow, in Jubaland. Jubaland’s government blames a Turkish airstrike. But Mogadishu says explosives went off inside the house. Turkey has not commented. Protests against Turkey followed in Jubaland, and its leaders accuse Turkey of taking the president’s side.

In late September, AFP reported Turkish jets firing near Baidoa. They were backing federal troops against forces loyal to the region’s ousted leader. Ankara says it does not interfere in Somali politics.

What to watch next

Five things will decide whether this is a partnership that lasts or a commitment that drags Turkey deeper.

• The well. Curad-1’s result is due by the end of 2026. If it finds oil, the debate over the contract’s terms will return.
• The money. Washington has backed only one more year of UN support for the African Union force, from January 2027. If that force shrinks, more of the war falls on the soldiers Turkey trains.
• The vote. Watch for an election deal, and for whether Turkey’s jets stay out of Somalia’s own quarrels.
• The launch site. Turkey says the spaceport should be ready in 2027. Its use for missile tests would draw far more attention.
• Berbera. Reports say Israel wants a base there, across the water from Yemen.

For more on the region, read more analysis on Africa.

Frequently asked questions

What is the Turkey Somalia oil deal?

Turkey and Somalia signed a hydrocarbons agreement in March 2024, and Turkey’s state oil company TPAO took three offshore blocks in July 2024. Under the contract, TPAO may keep up to 90% of output until its costs are repaid, and Somalia gets a 5% royalty. Drilling of the first well, Curad-1, began in April 2026.

Where is Turkey’s spaceport in Somalia?

Turkey has not officially published the exact site, and reports differ. Some, based on satellite images, place it on the southern coast near Kismayo, covering about 900 km². Le Monde has reported construction near Warsheikh, about 70 km north of Mogadishu. Turkey says it should be ready in early 2027.

Does Turkey have a military base in Somalia?

Yes. TURKSOM, in Mogadishu, opened in 2017 and is Turkey’s largest overseas training base. It has trained thousands of Somali soldiers. Turkey also bases drones and, since January 2026, F-16 fighter jets in Somalia, and its warships help patrol Somali waters under a ten-year deal signed in 2024.

Why is Turkey helping Somalia?

Turkey came in during the 2011 famine and stayed. It says it is defending Somalia’s sovereignty and building an equal partnership. In return, Turkey gains a foothold on the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden, oil and gas exploration rights, and a launch site near the equator for its space programme.

Is Turkey building a new Ottoman empire in Somalia?

Critics use the label; Turkey rejects it. The Ottomans did hold Red Sea ports in the 1500s, and Mogadishu pledged brief, symbolic allegiance in the 1580s. But they never ruled the Somali south. Today Turkey’s presence rests on deals with Somalia’s government, though some regional leaders accuse it of taking sides.