Turkish Drones Fuel a Somali Shadow War

While Mohamed Ahmed Nour, 50, left his house in the town of Al -Qur’an in the Somalia Eyeran area on January 30, 2023, he recalled the vision of drones hovering over it but he did not think much. The drones became a common scene in the town controlled by a young man.

Nour was at a funeral in a nearby area when the strike news arrived later that day. He rushed back to a scene of terror.

“I have seen charred remains for my children and other young people who wilted,” Nour said Foreign policy In March. “Their remains were widespread around the tree.”

Nour said that a few young fighters were present when he arrived. They were looking to try to confirm the identities of the dead in the strike. Once it became clear that the victims were not their colleagues, but the young children, they left.

Then Nour called for help to collect remains.

He said: “A total of 12 people arrived, then helped me pick up the parts of the body, one by one. Then we put them in bags.” “I could not even wash my children’s bodies according to Islamic rulings when dealing with the deceased, because the bodies of my children have been torn into parts.”

Seven youth were killed in the drone strike. Five of these victims were the palace. Among the deceased were three sons of Nour: Ahmed Mohamed Nour, 20, Abdel -Kadir Mohamed Nour, and 8 -year -old, Shass Mohamed Nour, who is 8 years old. The niece of Muhammad, 17, died in addition to a 13 -year -old child, 11, and 11 years old, in a drone strike.

Türkiye launches a drone against youth in Somalia from a joint leadership with the Somalia Intelligence Agency. (The United States and the United Arab Emirates also participate in drones in Somalia). It carries out drones at the request of the National Intelligence and Security Agency in Somalia (NISA), while feeding Nisa in Somalia goals on goals, implementing Türkiye and then strikes. According to two senior Somali intelligence officials, headquartered in front, the strike was followed by this process. (Officials spoke on the condition that his identity is not disclosed because they were not wiped to speak with the press.)

At that time since the Quran strike, the local residents have claimed the Turkish government that it carried out more air strikes in Somalia, which led to civilian injuries. The use of Turkish aircraft by the Turkish government and the states supported by Ankara throughout Africaand To the Sahel region, Libya, and even Ethiopia.

In Somalia, what began in 2011 with humanitarian intervention to save lives during starvation, since he saw Türkiye firmly deeply in the security infrastructure in the country. Amid Türkiye’s in -depth war against the strongest ally of Al Qaeda, youth, civilians pay the final price.

Nour said: “The nearest young man is two kilometers away, but they are still bombing,” Nour said. “My children do not deserve this.”

For Turkey, The 2011 famine in Somalia, which killed about 250,000 people, was the most important strategic century, and shortly after that, Turkish relief groups, organizations and companies will dump the country.

“What started as a soft, authentic power has undoubtedly evolved into something more strategic,” said Githro Norman, the first researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies. “It is clear that Somalia is a knot in Ankara’s greatest geopolitical ambitions-what was called its new aromatic aspirations to reaffirm the Turkish influence in the century of Africa and the Red Sea region.”

When Türkiye began supporting the government in Mogadishu, it found itself more enlarged in the efforts of the Somali government against youth. Türkiye sees groups like young people not only a threat to its own interests in the country but also a threat to its government allies in Mogadishu, where an internationally recognized government stumbled but fragile in a war of nearly two decades against the rebels.

The young man fiercely responded to Türkiye alongside the Somali government, where a spokesman said, “NATO is the largest enemy of Muslims and Turkey is part of it. NATO is a union of Christians.” The group’s suicide bombers targeted the Turkish embassy employees; He attacked a convoy of Turkish engineers assigned to build roads; Recently, a Turkish auxiliary worker has been killed in humanitarian work.

Türkiye sees the government’s survival in Mogadishu as a key to secure its interest in the country and the wider region. In April this year, when fears have grown that the government in Mogadishu will slip with the progress of young people in the capital, Ankara responded by deploying nearly 500 soldiers in the capital. They were assigned to protect Türkiye’s assets in the country, like its largest military base abroad, located in the port of Mogadishu; The publication included Turkish security personnel who operate armed aircraft.

The Turkish influence has spread in all sectors of Somali life. Ankara opened Turkish schools with Turkish charities and government organizations, while Turkish companies are building roads, hospitals and orphans. In Ankara, the government also provided thousands of Somali students with scholarships for study in Türkiye.

In addition to the mixture of Turkish companies that have obtained the rights of management on the infrastructure of the vital state. In 2013, Afferi LLC, a state -backed Turkish company, won a 20 -year lease to manage Mogadishu Airport, and in 2014, the Ankara -based Albayrak group obtained a 20 -year rental contract to manage the Mogadisho Port.

A flight from the International Transport Company in Türkiye is leaving Aden AD International Airport in Mogadishu on August 2. The airport has been managed by a state -owned company since 2013.

Dangerous questions are still not tackled in the acquisition of hiding in Türkiye, especially with regard to the participation of profits, local workers, long -term control, and sovereignty over the state’s assets. In 2024, Somalia Public Prosecutor accused Turkish companies that run Mogadishu Airport and maritime ports by violating profit exchange agreements.

Both companies have failed to submit the required financial reports after independent audits. This made it impossible for the Somalia government to confirm the legitimate shares of the revenues resulting from these major government assets, and according to the public lawyer, it risked the loss of potential millions that may be decisive to economic growth in Somalia.

The geopolitical hegemony in Turkey is not only limited to the economy, but also extends to Somalia security affairs. In 2017, Türkiye established its largest external military base in the capital, training thousands of Somali forces in the years that followed to participate in the war against young people. Regardless of its drone war, Ankara provided the Somali government with helicopters and shoes on the ground, including publication in April.

Türkiye has become the fourth largest weapon for sub -Saharan Africa. With drone exports that represent a large part of weapons sales in Türkiye, the Perkettar and Akinchi drones are affordable to governments in the Sahel and Horn of Africa.

The lack of transparency can be played about the attacks of drones that Türkiye is conducting in the hands of armed groups targeting these strikes drones, as groups take advantage of the general reaction and feelings of suffering societies.

In 2024, Amnesty International issued a harmful report claiming that the Turkish government may have committed war crimes in Somalia after Turkish drones bombed an agricultural settlement, killing 23 civilians, including 14 children. Turkish munitions were later found at the drone strike site, Ankara was involved in mass killing.

Nevertheless, there was no accountability for this strike or a strike on the Qur’an. This is partly because when drones occur in Somalia, they often occur either in areas that are controlled by a young man or their lands that are not controlled by a man-in the country where young people or the government have no full control and where the participation rules are often not present.

Norman said: “Turkey’s drones in Somalia indicate a wider global transformation in the use of drones, with a highlight of how the drone war is no longer just a tool of American foreign policy, but it is increasingly central to Turkey’s international strategy as well.” This researcher calls a kind of “drone diplomacy”: a dangerous rapprochement of deadly technology, geopolitical ambition, and arms sales.

For Turkey, this represents a decisive component in a broader strategy to diversify energy sources, enhance its geopolitical influence, and the strength of the project outside its traditional influence.

Omar S. Mahmoud, a great analyst in Somalia and the Horn of Africa for the International Crisis Group: “As a weaker country with great security risks, Somalia must often make more effort to attract foreign investment, which may mean that favorable conditions.”

In 1993, British economist Richard M. The term “resource curse” is referring to how resource -rich countries develop in a slower, corruption and violence. Somalia is not different. The deepening of Mogadishu’s dependence on Ankara gives Türkiye a great influence over Somali affairsand As well as maintaining potential competitors in the Gulf.

In 2024, Türkiye signed an oil exploration agreement with Somalia for oil blocks abroad. The following year, Türkiye signed an oil exploration agreement with Somalia, this time for wild oil blocs.

Mahmoud said: “It is possible that the security support of Turkey to the Somali government will be linked to its comprehensive strategy,” Mahmoud said. However, since the Somali government lacks a monopoly on the use of power throughout the country, and the vast majority of Somalia is not governed by the internationally recognized government in Mogadishu, the state may depend on foreign drone war to combat visible threats.

Abd al -Abu Abuir, Who drives his car, a mini -profit bus between the town of Mubarak, which is controlled by Shabab and the government -controlled Affgiae city in the Shabel region in Somalia, was arrested in a Turkish pilot strike on September 9, 2022.

On that day, Abuker was among the dozens of truck drivers and wandering participating in a meeting at a bus station in Mubarak to deal with the employment conflict. With the sunset approaching, the meeting was targeted in a blow – the Turkish drone.

Once the smoke is cleared, the bodies were exited on the soil floor, and the injured screaming for help. Nine people were killed, and 17 others were injured. Abuker took several months to recover.

Foreign policy We arrived at the Turkish embassy in Mogadishu, Director General of Turkey in East and North Africa from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Deputy General Directorate of Information at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Turkey’s private representative in Somalia and Somalland over the alleged Turkish strikes targeting Korakli and Mobark, but did not receive a comment.

When Türkiye becomes firmly firmly in Somalia, it is likely that the drones are likely to increase as the war continues with al -Qaeda’s armed group. Ordinary civilians like Abuker will pay the price.