During the past two weeks, the Turkish Envoy to Somalia undertook a series of bizarre security, political and diplomatic measures that have raised eyebrows and speculations that Turkey has thrown its weight behind president Farmaajo’s leadership which is coming to an end soon….
Meeting with the disputed election committee
Turkish Ambassador to Somalia, Mehmet Yilmaz became the first foreign diplomat to meet and hold official discussions with the disputed election committee, a move that can be interpreted as acceptance of the illegitimate body and that goes against the 16 December joint statement from some of the country’s international partners, including Turkey, which called for the revisiting of the electoral body that was overwhelmingly boycotted by the presidential candidates.
The union of the presidential candidates, who mostly considered Turkey as a friendly non-partisan country were discouraged by the decision of the Turkish Ambassador to meet with a controversial electoral body and raised the alarm over the move and other emerging acts by the brotherly country in recent weeks.
Turkish former Ambassador to Somalia Cemalettin Kani Torun, however, lashed out at President Farmaajo’s dangerous plot to frustrate the political transition in the country in a bid to confirm his re-election. Mr Torun in a tweet hoped that President Farmaajo should show political maturity borrowing lessons from his predecessors, Sharif Sheikh Ahmed and Hassan Sheikh Mohamed in 2012 and 2016, as the country, which is recovering from decades of conflict and political wrangling needs compromise and understanding, rather than power abuse and use of force.
