A Somali senator accused Turkey of helping engineer the removal of the leader of Somalia’s South West state, claiming Ankara backed federal forces in a move aimed at tightening control over the country’s resources, according to remarks published Wednesday by Somali Guardian.
Senator Abdi Ismail Samatar said Turkey was the “key partner” in the ouster of regional President Abdiaziz Hassan Mohamed Laftagareen and accused Ankara of seeking to build a client state in Somalia.
Samatar’s remarks came two days after Somalia’s national army took control of Baidoa, the administrative capital of South West state, prompting Laftagareen to resign just days after he had been re-elected for another five-year term. Reuters reported that many residents fled the city ahead of the takeover and that some aid agencies suspended operations over fears of clashes.
Somali Guardian reported that Turkish helicopters and drones flew over Baidoa during the federal advance and said Turkish-trained forces had supported the operation, but Reuters, in its account of the takeover, did not confirm any direct Turkish role in the fighting.
The confrontation grew out of a growing dispute between Mogadishu and the South West administration, which on March 17 said it was severing ties with the federal government. South West officials accused President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s government of trying to unseat Laftagareen, while the federal government said the regional administration had fueled political conflict.
The standoff is part of a broader struggle over power sharing in Somalia’s federal system, where disputes over elections and constitutional amendments have strained relations between the central government and regional administrations. Puntland cut ties with Mogadishu in 2024 over constitutional changes, while Jubbaland suspended relations later that year in a separate election dispute.
Turkey has become one of Somalia’s closest foreign partners in recent years, building infrastructure, training Somali forces and deepening defense and energy ties. Ankara opened its largest overseas military base in Mogadishu in 2017, signed a defense and economic cooperation agreement with Somalia in February 2024 and followed that with an oil and gas deal the next month.