Mogadishu (Somalia Today) – Turkey and Israel are deepening a strategic rivalry around Somalia’s coast, but through sharply different routes. Ankara is expanding formal energy and defence ties with Somalia’s federal government, while Israel has sought access through the country’s secessionist Somaliland region near the Gulf of Aden.
The contest has pushed the Horn of Africa deeper into Red Sea politics, where the war in Gaza, attacks by Yemen’s Houthis, the Bab el-Mandeb shipping route and Gulf rivalries have raised the strategic value of Somalia’s long coastline.
But the two tracks are not equal. Turkey’s footprint rests on state-to-state agreements with Mogadishu, while Israel’s outreach to the Hargeisa administration depends on a disputed recognition that Somalia, the African Union and a broad bloc of Arab and Muslim states have condemned as a threat to Somali sovereignty.
Ankara backs Mogadishu
Turkey’s position in Somalia has grown steadily since 2011, when President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan visited Mogadishu during a famine and opened the way for a wider diplomatic, humanitarian and security relationship.
Ankara later built infrastructure, trained Somali soldiers and police, and opened its largest overseas military base in Mogadishu in 2017.
That relationship entered a more strategic phase in February 2024, when Somalia’s parliament approved a 10-year defence and economic cooperation pact with Turkey after tensions rose over Ethiopia’s separate sea-access agreement with the Somaliland administration.
Somali officials said the pact would strengthen the federal government’s ability to defend its sovereignty and maritime territory.
At the signing ceremony, Turkish Defence Minister Yasar Guler described Somalia as “an important partner of Türkiye in Africa” and stressed Ankara’s support for Somalia’s “sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
Somalia’s information minister, Daud Aweis, said the agreement would “significantly” strengthen the government’s efforts to safeguard national sovereignty.
Weeks later, Turkey signed an offshore oil and natural gas cooperation agreement with Somalia, covering exploration, evaluation, development and production in Somali land and sea blocks, as well as transport, refining and sales operations.
“With this agreement, we will carry out joint activities to bring the resources of Somalia to the Somali people,” Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said.
“We aim to strengthen Turkey’s presence in the Horn of Africa with new collaborations in the field of energy,” he added.
Oil push moves offshore
Turkey’s energy drive has now moved from diplomacy to drilling.
The Oruç Reis seismic vessel completed a 234-day mission in Somali waters in 2025, collecting 3D seismic data across three offshore blocks covering 4,464 square kilometres.
Bayraktar said the data would guide future exploration and drilling locations.
In April 2026, Turkey’s deep-sea drilling vessel Çağrı Bey arrived in Somalia for what Ankara described as its first overseas deep-sea drilling operation.
The vessel is expected to drill at the Curad-1 well off Somalia and operate at a depth of 7,500 metres over 288 days.
“The Çağrı Bey has arrived in Somalia for its historic mission,” Bayraktar said, adding that the operation opened “a brand-new chapter in the energy history of both Türkiye and Somalia.”
The drilling campaign gives Ankara a visible offshore role at a time when Somalia is trying to test the long-discussed hydrocarbon potential that remains largely unproven.
It also places Turkey’s naval, military and energy interests in the same strategic theatre, linking offshore security to Mogadishu’s wider effort to assert control over Somali waters.
Turkey has also presented itself as a mediator in the region.
In December 2024, Ankara brokered a declaration between Somalia and Ethiopia after Mogadishu rejected Addis Ababa’s agreement with the Somaliland administration.
The declaration reaffirmed respect for sovereignty, unity, independence and territorial integrity, while opening the door to talks on Ethiopia’s access to the sea under Somalia’s sovereign authority.
Israel turns to Somaliland
Israel has taken a different route.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced in late 2025 that Israel had recognised Somaliland, describing the decision as being “in the spirit of the Abraham Accords.”
Somaliland declared independence from Somalia in 1991, but Somalia has never accepted the claim and continues to regard the northwestern region as part of its sovereign territory.
The Israeli move triggered strong condemnation from Somalia and several Arab and Muslim countries, including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey, Qatar, Jordan, Kuwait, Iraq, Palestine, Pakistan and Oman.
The backlash widened after Israel appointed a diplomatic envoy to what several Arab and Islamic nations called the “so-called Somaliland,” describing the move as “a blatant violation of the sovereignty, unity, and territorial integrity” of Somalia.
Israel’s strategic interest is clear.
A Bloomberg report said Israeli officials were exploring a potential base in the breakaway region that could help monitor or target Yemen’s Houthis across the Gulf of Aden.
The plan, according to the report, could involve a strategic security partnership with the Hargeisa administration, despite widespread regional criticism.
Defending the move, Shiri Fein-Grossman, chief executive of the Israel-Africa Relations Institute and a former member of Israel’s National Security Council, told Israeli outlet i24 News: “Everyone just looks at the map and understands what Israel is looking for here.”
“The recognition of Somaliland gives Israel a strategic location near the Houthis in Yemen and comes at a time that Israel needs as many friends as possible,” she said.
Her comments reflected Israel’s strategic calculations, but they did not change the region’s disputed status or Somalia’s insistence that Somaliland remains part of its sovereign territory.
Mogadishu warns of fallout
Somali officials have warned that any Israeli military presence could import Middle East conflicts into the Horn of Africa.
Speaking at the Antalya Diplomacy Forum, Somali State Minister for Foreign Affairs Ali Mohamed Omar said Israel’s involvement would draw counter-moves from other actors.
“Wherever Israel is involved, we see other actors stepping in to oppose it,” he said.
“It is sad, but we may soon see new armed groups emerging in the south of the Arabian Peninsula,” he added.
Turkey has also strongly opposed Israel’s move.
Erdoğan said Israel’s recognition of Somaliland would not benefit the region and warned that the Horn of Africa should not become “a competition field for foreign forces.”
He had earlier called the recognition illegal and unacceptable.
Wider rivalry grows
The dispute reflects the collapse of Turkish-Israeli ties over Gaza and wider regional power projection.
Ankara has accused Israel of destabilising the region, while Netanyahu has attacked Erdoğan over Turkey’s policies at home and abroad.
In a post on X, Netanyahu accused Erdoğan of “massacring his own Kurdish citizens” and “accommodating Iran’s terror regime and its proxies.”
Turkey responded with sharp condemnation, with officials in Ankara describing Netanyahu as the “Hitler of the era,” citing Israel’s military actions in Gaza and across the region.
For Somalia, the rivalry brings both opportunity and risk.
Turkey’s formal partnership strengthens Mogadishu’s claim to sovereign control over its waters and resources, while Israel’s outreach to the Somaliland administration has sharpened the diplomatic battle over Somalia’s territorial integrity.
The confrontation has also drawn the secessionist administration into a wider struggle stretching from the Red Sea to the Middle East, where military powers are seeking footholds to expand their regional reach.
