Turkey sent a deep-sea drilling ship to Somalia on Sunday for its first offshore exploration mission outside Turkey’s maritime zone, after the deployment of Turkish fighter jets to the Horn of Africa country and amid reports that armored vehicles have also arrived.
The Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Ministry said the drilling vessel Çağrı Bey set sail from the port of Taşucu in Turkey’s southern Mersin province and is expected to begin drilling at Somalia’s Curad-1 well in April. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan attended a send-off event, according to the ministry.
Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said the ship is expected to reach Somali waters in 45 days and will be escorted by three Turkish warships.
The voyage comes as Turkey’s military role in Somalia is attracting attention. Turkish F-16 fighter jets reportedly landed in Mogadishu on January 28.
Separately, Somali media have reported that Turkish-supplied battle tanks arrived in Mogadishu this weekend, with footage circulating online of tanks at the port and moving through the capital.
Turkey has had one of its largest overseas partnerships in Somalia since 2011, when Erdoğan, then prime minister, visited during a famine and Turkey expanded aid, diplomacy and commercial ties. Ankara later opened a major military training facility in Mogadishu, known as TURKSOM, and has trained Somali forces as Somalia fights the al-Shabaab insurgency.
The deepening Turkish footprint in Somalia is also feeding a new fault line in Ankara’s relationship with Israel. According to analysts along with support for Somalia’s fight against the al-Shabaab insurgency, the late January deployment of Turkish F-16 fighter jets to Mogadishu also serve as protection of Turkish interests after Israel recognized Somaliland, a self-declared breakaway region in northern Somalia, in December.