Mogadishu (Somalia Today) — Somali government officials have rejected allegations that Turkey engineered the fall of South West State’s administration, dismissing claims that Ankara helped drive the crisis in order to seize Somalia’s natural resources.
The denial follows the resignation of regional president Abdiaziz Hassan Mohamed, known as Laftagareen, amid a sharp political confrontation in Baidoa that critics have tried to cast as a foreign-backed operation rather than a domestic power struggle.
Laftagareen resigned on Monday and left for Kenya after federal troops took control of Baidoa, bringing an end to weeks of a standoff with Mogadishu.
Government sources described the allegation as false, politically charged, and unsupported by evidence.
“The Turkish government, a good friend that has greatly helped Somalia, has no involvement in the country’s internal affairs and respects Somalia’s right to manage its own affairs,” a senior government source told Somalia Today.
The source said the upheaval in Baidoa was a Somali matter, driven by local resistance to an administration whose mandate had expired, with the federal government stepping in to “safeguard legality”.
“It would be better if some officials did not mix political competition with fabrication, misinformation, and insults against a good, friendly country,” the official added.
‘Client state’ accusations
The rebuttal comes after former South West officials and federal Senator Abdi Ismail Samatar accused Ankara of helping Mogadishu build a “client state” to exploit Somalia’s untapped natural resources.
Critics have pointed to the deployment of Turkish-trained federal forces to Baidoa as evidence of Ankara’s influence over the regional power shift.
Turkey is one of Somalia’s most important security partners.
It operates Camp TURKSOM in Mogadishu, its largest overseas military facility, where it has trained elite Somali units, including the Gorgor commandos and Haramcad police, both of which have played prominent roles in internal security operations.
Analysts, however, say that military cooperation does not, in itself, amount to operational control.
Mogadishu-based political analyst Ahmed Abdi said the use of Turkish-origin equipment or Turkish-trained forces did not prove Ankara directed the political or military decisions taken in Baidoa.
“States routinely deploy forces trained by foreign partners and use weapons or drones acquired from abroad,” Abdi told Somalia Today. “The relevant question is not where the training or equipment came from, but who made the decision to use them.”
There is currently no public evidence that Turkey planned, ordered, or directed the federal intervention against Laftagareen.
Deepening footprint
Turkey has steadily expanded its role in Somalia since 2011 through infrastructure investment, security cooperation, and offshore energy exploration.
In early 2024, the two countries signed a defence and economic cooperation agreement that deepened an already close relationship.
That growing partnership has fuelled concern among opposition figures who fear excessive foreign leverage.
But analysts say the Baidoa crisis stems above all from Somalia’s unresolved disputes over federal power, political legitimacy, and the relationship between Mogadishu and the federal member states.
In that context, the confrontation in South West State appears first and foremost to be a Somali political struggle, even if foreign partnerships have sharpened the optics and deepened public suspicion.
Government officials said portraying Turkey as the author of the Baidoa crisis was an attempt to turn a domestic constitutional and political dispute into a misleading geopolitical conspiracy.
While acknowledging Ankara’s growing strategic interests in Somalia, officials insisted the removal of Laftagareen was an internal Somali development, not a foreign-directed operation.
