Turkey to open it’s largest military base in Somalia

About 200 Turkish officers will be deployed to the facility in Mogadishu, Somalia’s capital, to train over 10,000 Somali National Army troops and other soldiers from across Africa.
The head of the Turkish military arrived in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu on Friday, military officials said.

General Hulusi Akar was received by the commander of the Somali armed forces, General Mohamed Ahmed Jimale, at Adan Abdulle international airport in Mogadishu.

Abdullahi Iman, a spokesman for Somalia’s Defence Ministry said that Akar arrived in the Horn of Africa nation on Friday under tight security and was received by his counterpart.

He added that Akar’s visit is to attend the opening ceremony of a Turkish military training facility in Mogadishu, which is due to open tomorrow.

TRT World’s Ahmed Al Burai reports from Mogadishu.

He gave no further details of the visit, but Akar is expected to meet Somalia’s president, Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, as well as the prime minister, senior Somali government officials said.

Senior Turkish government officials are expected to arrive in Mogadishu to participate in the opening ceremony on Saturday.

The facility. Turkey’s largest overseas military base, is spread out over 4 square kilometres.

The base has the capacity to train over 1,500 troops at a time, according to the Somali government.