Abstract
Somalia sits at the epicenter of the Horn of Africa regional security complex (RSC), and security actors seeking to alter the security conditions within Somalia have the potential to impact the broader RSC of the Horn of Africa. Turkey’s engagement within Somalia is largely built on soft power toolsets, including economic support, extensive aid programs, and emergency humanitarian assistance. The soft power toolsets mentioned in this chapter empower Turkey to bolster its strategic visibility in the Horn of Africa and thus to backup alliances formed in other regional security complexes in the Gulf Region and the broader Middle East. Ankara’s engagement with Somalia raises pertinent questions about how the Regional Security Complex Theory can account specifically for soft power capacities that enable actors who do not hold great or superpower status to act outside their major RSC.
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Notes
- 1.
The Horn of Africa includes countries of Djibouti, Eretria, Ethiopia, and Somalia; broader definitions include as well part of or all of Sudan, Uganda and Kenya. The author of this article follows the later category.
- 2.
Onur Sazak and Auveen Elizabeth Woods, “Thinking Outside the Compound: Turkey’s Approach to Peacebuilding in Somalia,” in Rising Powers and Peacebuilding: Breaking the Mold? ed. Charles Nyuykonge and Siphamandla Zondi (Palgrave Macmillan, 2017), 167–89; Mahad Wasuge, “Turkey’s Assistance Model in Somalia: Achieving Much with Little” (Mogadishu: Heritage Institute for Policy Studies, 2016), http://www.heritageinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Turkeys-Assistance-Model-in-Somalia-Achieving-Much-With-Little1-1.pdf.
- 3.
Sazak and Woods, “Thinking Outside the Compound,” 174–75.
- 4.
Dimitar Bechev, “Turkey’s Rise as a Regional Power,” European View 10, no. 2 (2011): 173–74, https://doi.org/10.1007/s12290-011-0184-0.
- 5.
André Barrinha, “The Ambitious Insulator: Revisiting Turkey’s Position in Regional Security Complex Theory,” Mediterranean Politics 19, no. 2 (2014): 165, https://doi.org/10.1080/13629395.2013.799353.
- 6.
Barry Buzan, People, States and Fear: An Agenda for International Security Studies in the Post-Cold War Era (New York: Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1991), 188.
- 7.
Barry Buzan and Ole Waever, Regions and Powers: The Structure of International Security (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003), 44.
- 8.
Mesfin Berouk, “The Horn of Africa Security Complex,” in Regional Security in the Post-Cold War Horn of Africa, ed. Roba D. Sharamo and Berouk Mesfin, ISS Monograph Series 178 (Halfway House: Institute for Security Studies, 2011), 3.
- 9.
Derrick Frazier and Robert Stewart-Ingersoll, “Regional Powers and Security: A Framework for Understanding Order Within Regional Security Complexes,” European Journal of International Relations 16, no. 4 (2010): 733, https://doi.org/10.1177/1354066109359847.
- 10.
Frazier and Stewart-Ingersoll, 733.
- 11.
Frazier and Stewart-Ingersoll, 738.
- 12.
Buzan and Waever, Regions and Powers, 34, 46.
- 13.
Buzan and Waever, 34.
- 14.
Buzan and Waever, 35.
- 15.
Buzan and Waever, Regions and Powers.
- 16.
Buzan and Waever, 392.
- 17.
Barrinha, “The Ambitious Insulator,” 165.
- 18.
Buzan and Waever, Regions and Powers, 394.
- 19.
Barrinha, “The Ambitious Insulator,” 165.
- 20.
Ąžuolas Bagdonas, “Turkey as a Great Power? Back to Reality,” Turkish Studies 16, no. 3 (2015): 310, https://doi.org/10.1080/14683849.2015.1069712.
- 21.
Barrinha, “The Ambitious Insulator,” 166.
- 22.
Frazier and Stewart-Ingersoll, “Regional Powers and Security,” 734.
- 23.
Buzan and Waever, Regions and Powers, 232.
- 24.
Berouk, “The Horn of Africa Security Complex,” 22–23.
- 25.
Robert I. Rotberg, “Failed States in a World of Terror,” Foreign Affairs 81, no. 4 (August 2002): 127–40, https://doi.org/10.2307/20033245.
- 26.
“Somalia: The Transitional Government on Life Support,” Africa (International Crisis Group, February 21, 2011), https://www.crisisgroup.org/file/1427/download?token=IoVogvxK.
- 27.
“Somalia: The Transitional Government on Life Support.”
- 28.
“Somalia Humanitarian Situation,” Somalia Humanitarian Situation Report (UNICEF, July 1, 2018), https://www.unicef.org/appeals/files/UNICEF_Somalia_Humanitarian_Situation_Report_July_2018.pdf.
- 29.
Andreas Bruvik Westberg, “Bloodshed and Breaking Wave: The First Outbreak of Somali Piracy,” Scientia Militaria: South African Journal of Military Studies 43, no. 2 (2015): 24, https://doi.org/10.5787/43-1-1107.
- 30.
“Managing the Disruptive Aftermath of Somalia’s Worse Terror Attack,” Crisis Group Africa Briefing (International Crisis Group, October 20, 2017), 1, https://www.crisisgroup.org/file/5344/download?token=RBb-IYpJ.
- 31.
“Mixed Migration Monthly Summary: January 2018 East Africa and Yemen” (Danish Refugee Council, January 2018), https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/RMMS%20Mixed%20Migration%20Monthly%20Summary%20January%202018.pdf.
- 32.
Mehmet Ozkan and Serhat Orakci, “Viewpoint: Turkey as a ‘Political’ Actor in Africa—An Assessment of Turkish Involvement in Somalia,” Journal of Eastern African Studies 9, no. 2 (June 2015): 344, https://doi.org/10.1080/17531055.2015.1042629.
- 33.
Jason Stearns and Gizem Sucuoglu, “Turkey in Somalia: Shifting Paradigm of Aid,” 24, SAIIA Research Report (South African Institute of International Affairs, November 21, 2016), 18, https://saiia.org.za/research/turkey-in-somalia-shifting-paradigms-of-aid/.
- 34.
Pınar Akpınar, “Turkey’s Peacebuilding in Somalia: The Limits of Humanitarian Diplomacy,” Turkish Studies 14, no. 4 (2013): 739, https://doi.org/10.1080/14683849.2013.863448.
- 35.
Akpınar, “Turkey’s Peacebuilding in Somalia.”
- 36.
See in particular Ahmet Davutoğlu, “Turkey’s Humanitarian Diplomacy: Objectives, Challenges and Prospects,” Nationalities Papers: The Journal of Nationalism and Ethnicity 41, no. 6 (2013): 865–70, https://doi.org/10.1080/00905992.2013.857299.
- 37.
Soner Cagaptay, “Defining Turkish Power: Turkey as a Rising Power Embedded in the Western International System,” Turkish Studies 14, no. 4 (2013): 801, https://doi.org/10.1080/14683849.2013.861110.
- 38.
Cagaptay, 737; Akpınar, “Turkey’s Peacebuilding in Somalia.”
- 39.
Davutoğlu, “Turkey’s Humanitarian Diplomacy,” 866.
- 40.
Ozkan and Orakci, “Viewpoint: Turkey as a ‘Political’ Actor in Africa,” 344.
- 41.
Ozkan and Orakci, 347.
- 42.
Cited in Cagaptay, “Defining Turkish Power,” 801–2.
- 43.
Stearns and Sucuoglu, “Turkey in Somalia,” 20; Sazak and Woods, “Thinking Outside the Compound,” 172.
- 44.
Stearns and Sucuoglu, “Turkey in Somalia,” 19.
- 45.
Sazak and Woods, “Thinking Outside the Compound,” 173.
- 46.
David Shinn, “Turkey’s Engagement in Sub-Saharan Africa: Shifting Alliances and Strategic Diversification,” Africa Programme Research Paper (Chatham House, September 2015), 2, https://www.chathamhouse.org/sites/files/chathamhouse/field/field_document/20150909TurkeySubSaharanAfricaShinn.pdf.
- 47.
Serhat Oracki, David Shinn, and Jason Mosley, “Turkey and the Horn of Africa: Emerging Interests and Relations,” Chatham House, June 28, 2012, 2, https://www.chathamhouse.org/sites/default/files/public/Research/Africa/280612summary.pdf.
- 48.
Shinn, “Turkey’s Engagement in Sub-Saharan Africa,” 9.
- 49.
“Somalia Famine: Turkish PM Erdogan Visits Mogadishu,” August 19, 2011, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-14588960.
- 50.
Cited in “Somalia Famine.”
- 51.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, “The Tears of Somalia,” Foreign Policy, October 10, 2011, https://foreignpolicy.com/2011/10/10/the-tears-of-somalia/.
- 52.
Sazak and Woods, “Thinking Outside the Compound,” 172.
- 53.
“Turkey Acting as a Go-between with al-Shabaab, Mogadishu,” Hurriyet Daily News, March 8, 2012, http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkey-acting-as-go-between-with-al-shabaab-mogadishu-15516; “Turkey Mediating Talks with Al-Shabaab to Bring Peace,” April 19, 2012, https://hiiraan.com/news4/2012/apr/23700/turkey_mediating_talks_with_al_shabaab_to_bring_peace.aspx.
- 54.
Stearns and Sucuoglu, “Turkey in Somalia,” 20; See also Akpınar, “Turkey’s Peacebuilding in Somalia,” 740.
- 55.
Shinn, “Turkey’s Engagement in Sub-Saharan Africa,” 9.
- 56.
Mücahid Durmaz, “Turkey Seeks Deeper Relations with Africa,” May 27, 2016, https://www.trtworld.com/in-depth/turkey-seeks-broad-based-relations-with-africa-114268.
- 57.
Mehmet Ozkan, “The Turkish Way of Doing Development Aid? An Analysis from the Somali Laboratory,” in South-South Cooperation beyond the Myths: Rising Donors New Aid Practices? ed. Isaline Bergamaschi, Phoebe Moore, and Arlene B. Tickne (London, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017), 65.
- 58.
Erdogan, “The Tears of Somalia.”
- 59.
“Final Communique: Emergency Ministerial-Level Meeting of the OIC Executive Committee on Somalia Convened in Istanbul on Wednesday 17/08/2011,” Ministry of Foreign Affairs, August 2011, http://www.mfa.gov.tr/data/ENFORMASYON/OIC%20Final%20Communiqu%C3%A9%20Somalia.PDF.
- 60.
Erdogan, “The Tears of Somalia.”
- 61.
“Final Communique.”
- 62.
Eva Svoboda et al., “Islamic Humanitarianism?” HGP Working Paper (London: Humanitarian Policy Group, February 2015), https://www.odi.org/sites/odi.org.uk/files/odi-assets/publications-opinion-files/9457.pdf.
- 63.
Abdurrahim Siradag, “Turkish–Somali Relations: Changing State Identity and Foreign Policy,” Sarajevo Journal of Social Sciences Inquiry 2, no. 2 (2016): 102, https://doi.org/10.21533/isjss.v2i2.86.
- 64.
Akpınar, “Turkey’s Peacebuilding in Somalia,” 746–47.
- 65.
Wasuge, “Turkey’s Assistance Model in Somalia,” 19.
- 66.
Ahmet Yukleyen and Mohammed Zulkarnian, “Turkey’s Foreign Policy in Somalia,” Journal of Caspian Affairs 1, no. 2 (2015): 111.
- 67.
“Turkey Sets Up Largest Overseas Army Base in Somalia: Ankara Move Is Part of Efforts to Increase Foothold in the Horn of Africa,” Al Jazeera, October 1, 2017, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/10/turkey-sets-largest-overseas-army-base-somalia-171001073820818.html; Abdirahman Hussein and Orhan Coskun, “Turkey Opens Military Base in Mogadishu to Train Somali Soldiers,” Reuters, September 30, 2017, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-somalia-turkey-military/turkey-opens-military-base-in-mogadishu-to-train-somali-soldiers-idUSKCN1C50JH.
- 68.
Cited in “Turkey Sets Up Largest Overseas Army Base.”
- 69.
“Turkey Sets Up Largest Overseas Army Base.”
- 70.
Merve Şebnem Oruç, “Who Is Disturbed by Turkey’s Presence on Sudan’s Suakin Island?” Daily Sabah, May 14, 2019, https://www.dailysabah.com/columns/merve-sebnem-oruc/2019/05/10/who-is-disturbed-by-turkeys-presence-on-sudans-suakin-island.
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Carver, S. (2020). Expanding the Turkish Bid for Regional Control in the Somali Regional Security Complexes. In: Amour, P. (eds) The Regional Order in the Gulf Region and the Middle East. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-45465-4_6
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