America was a colony but is damned as imperial. Turkey was imperial but gets to cast in its lot with the colonized despite trying to rebuild imperial glory. Let's just be happy Turkey is pushing south to Cyprus, Iraq, Syria, Libya, the Horn of Africa, and the Persian Gulf.
Turkey entrenches in the Horn of Africa:
Turkey will deploy an unspecified number of naval forces to Somalia to help the Somali Federal Government (SFG) protect its territorial waters and build the Somali forces’ capacity to counter terrorism, piracy, smuggling, and other threats. The deployment is part of a defense and economic deal that Turkey signed with Somalia in February 2024 to reconstruct, equip, and train the Somali Navy in exchange for 30 percent of the revenue from resources found in Somalia’s offshore exclusive economic zone.
The pull of an imperial past is strong in Turkey under Erdogan.
As the initial link notes, Somalia wants help:
Somalia likely intends to use its partnership with Turkey to counter Ethiopia’s controversial port agreement with the de facto independent breakaway Somaliland region.
You may recall that deal between Puntland and Ethiopia to give Ethiopia access to a port. Which no doubt falls within the "other threats" category.
NOTE: TDR Winter War of 2022 coverage continues here.
NOTE: I'm adding updates on the Last Hamas War in this post.NOTE: I'm now on Substack, with The Dignified Rant: Evolved.