Wednesday February 12, 2025
Deputy Foreign Minister Burhanettin Duran on Monday was received by his Somali counterparts as he paid a working visit to Mogadishu, Foreign Ministry sources said Tuesday.
Duran held talks with Somali Foreign Minister Ahmed Moalim Fiqi and Petroleum and Mineral Resources Minister Dahir Shire Mohamed before being received by President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud.
The sides discussed bilateral ties, as well as the preparations for technical negotiations between Somalia and Ethiopia, which were included in the Ankara Declaration the pair signed in Ankara with Türkiye’s mediation to end hostilities over the Somaliland dispute.
Duran separately paid a visit to the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa last Thursday to meet with counterparts.
Türkiye’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) also signed two strategic agreements with counterparts in Somalia and Ethiopia earlier this month to strengthen interparty and intergovernmental relations.
Somaliland disputeTürkiye-Somalia relations have reached a strategic partnership level and have gained momentum with high-level visits in recent years, the sources said.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s government has sought to increase its diplomatic efforts and economic development in Africa and holds neutrality between Ethiopia and Somalia.
Ankara helped heal a yearlong rift that threatened further instability in the Horn of Africa as it stepped in to mediate the Somaliland dispute between Ethiopia and Somalia last year.
The dispute began in January when landlocked Ethiopia struck a deal with Somalia's breakaway region Somaliland to lease a stretch of coastline for a port and military base.
In return, Somaliland, which declared independence from Somalia in 1991 in a move not recognized by Mogadishu, said Ethiopia would give it formal recognition, although Addis Ababa never confirmed this.
Somalia branded the deal a violation of its sovereignty, setting international alarm bells ringing over the risk of renewed conflict in the volatile Horn of Africa region.
Türkiye stepped in to mediate in July, holding three previous rounds of talks – two in Ankara and one in New York – before December’s breakthrough, which won praise from the African Union, Washington and Brussels.
In December, Ethiopia and Somalia signed a memorandum in Ankara after hours of intense negotiations, which affirmed Somalia's territorial integrity and initiated discussions on granting Ethiopia access to the sea via the Somali coast.