Turkish Parliament Approves 2-Year Military Deployment to Somalia

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met on Saturday with his Somalian counterpart Hassan Sheikh Mohamud (Turkish presidency)
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met on Saturday with his Somalian counterpart Hassan Sheikh Mohamud (Turkish presidency)
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Turkish Parliament Approves 2-Year Military Deployment to Somalia

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met on Saturday with his Somalian counterpart Hassan Sheikh Mohamud (Turkish presidency)
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met on Saturday with his Somalian counterpart Hassan Sheikh Mohamud (Turkish presidency)

The Turkish parliament approved a presidential motion to deploy elements of the Turkish Armed Forces to Somalia, including to its territorial waters.
The Turkish forces will be stationed in Somalia for two years under a defense and economic cooperation agreement signed between the two countries in February to assist with security efforts against terrorism and other threats.
The motion, which was sent to Parliament last week, said Türkiye has been providing training, assistance and advisory support in Somalia to ensure security and stability within the scope of bilateral agreements.
The Somali-Turkish agreements will see Ankara build the Somali defense and security forces and ensure they gain the capabilities to counter terrorism, piracy, and all types of smuggling and other threats.
According to the motion, the Defense and Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement signed between Türkiye and Somalia on February 8, 2024 aims to expand cooperation, especially in the fields of maritime security, military training, and economic collaboration and to enhance Somalia's capacity to fight against illegal and unregulated activities, and use the economic resources for the development of the Somali Navy.
Under the deal, Türkiye will protect Somalia’s 3,000-kilometer coastline, bordering Kenya and Ethiopia to the west and Djibouti to the northwest.
It is still unclear whether such protection will include the Gulf of Aden and Somaliland, which declared its independence in 1991 but is still recognized internationally as part of Somalia.
The motion noted that the Somali government has asked Türkiye’s assistance to enhance Somalia's capacity and capabilities to combat illegal and irregular activities in its territorial waters, such as all forms of terrorism, piracy, illegal fishing, toxic waste dumping and any external intrusion or threat to the country's coastline.
The Turkish naval forces have been actively supporting international efforts to combat piracy in the Gulf of Aden, Somali territorial waters and the Arabian Sea.
The presidential motion was sent to Parliament one day after the Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Ministry announced it will send an exploration vessel off the coast of Somalia next September to search for oil and gas as part of a hydrocarbon cooperation deal between two countries.
Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said his country plans to search for oil and gas in three blocks off the Somali coast.
At the signing ceremony for the Hydrocarbon Exploration And Production Agreement held in Istanbul, along with Somalia's Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Abdirizak Omar Mohamed, Bayraktar said Ankara is sending the Oruc Reis ship to this region at the end of September, to start exploration activities.

 



Vatican Cancels Pope’s Weekend Engagements as He Battles ‘Complex’ Infection 

Pedestrians walk past the statue of Pope John Paul II outside the Gemelli hospital where Pope Francis is hospitalized for tests and treatment for an infection in Rome, on February 18, 2025. (AFP)
Pedestrians walk past the statue of Pope John Paul II outside the Gemelli hospital where Pope Francis is hospitalized for tests and treatment for an infection in Rome, on February 18, 2025. (AFP)
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Vatican Cancels Pope’s Weekend Engagements as He Battles ‘Complex’ Infection 

Pedestrians walk past the statue of Pope John Paul II outside the Gemelli hospital where Pope Francis is hospitalized for tests and treatment for an infection in Rome, on February 18, 2025. (AFP)
Pedestrians walk past the statue of Pope John Paul II outside the Gemelli hospital where Pope Francis is hospitalized for tests and treatment for an infection in Rome, on February 18, 2025. (AFP)

Pope Francis, who began his fifth day in hospital on Tuesday for what doctors have described as a "complex" respiratory infection, will not take part in this weekend's Holy Year events, the Vatican said on Tuesday.

The 88-year-old pontiff has been suffering from a respiratory infection for more than a week and was admitted to Rome's Gemelli hospital on Friday.

A planned public papal audience set for Saturday had been cancelled "due to the health condition of the Holy Father", the Vatican said in a brief statement.

A papal mass scheduled for Sunday will still take place, but will be led instead by a senior Vatican official, it added.

The Vatican said on Monday that doctors had changed the pope's drug therapy for the second time during his hospital stay to tackle a "complex clinical situation". They described it as a "polymicrobial infection of the respiratory tract".

Doctors say polymicrobial diseases can be caused by a mix of viruses, bacteria and fungi.

Francis, who has been pontiff since 2013, has had influenza and other health problems several times over the past two years. As a young adult he developed pleurisy and had part of one lung removed, and in recent times has been prone to lung infections.