Somalia’s president in Ankara for his Turkish counterpart’s inauguration

Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud is in the Turkish capital Ankara for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s inauguration ceremony. 

The Somali leader arrived in Ankara on Friday evening accompanied by a delegation comprised of cabinet members and top presidential advisors. 

Last Sunday, Erdogan secured 52.18% of the presidential runoff election defeating opposition candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu who received 47.82% of the vote. 

Erdogan is set to begin his new term once he takes the oath in the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye at 1400 local time. 

Under his leadership, relations between Turkiye and Somalia were revived with strong cooperation in the fields of trade, security, education, culture and development among others. 

Ankara is one of Mogadishu’s leading security partners. Its TURKSOM military academy in the vicinity of Mogadishu trains hundreds of Somali elite troops who are taking part in the offensive against Al-Shabaab. The Middle East regional power also provides crucial arms and ammunition support to Somali security forces.