By Fatih Erel
Somali State Minister for Foreign Affairs Mohamed Nur Ga’al has said Turkish team that visited Somalia got the assessment and all the details they need in order to assist us and help improve the security situation in the country.
"We asked the Turkish government if they can assist us to actually improve and make the security situation of Somalia better than current situation," Ga'al said in an interview with the AA in Turkish capital Ankara.
A 9-member delegation from Turkey recently visitedSomalia and they returned to Turkey on October 4.
Ga'al stated they said they committed to helping us in that regard. As a matter of the fact, few days ago they sent a high level team into Somalia to assess what Turkey can do to improve the security in Somalia.
Ga'al said, "Of course we are very sad about the attack on Turkish Embassy in Somalia in July, we have sent our condolences to the family of the Turkish policeman who was killed. We want to honour his legacy. Our government actually has decided to name a school in Somalia after him so we will never forget that he paid the ultimate sacrifice for the Somaliacause."
- Preventive measures
For the preventive security measures, "In addition we tighten security of all Turkish personnel and facilities in Somalia and we give them a high priority security to make sure that there will be no such incident," said Ga'al.
About the historical relations between two countries, Ga'al said, "the relationship between two countries goes back centuries ago, but it has been reestablished when Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited Somalia on August 19, 2011, during the period when our country was suffering from drought and famine, and it was very difficult time in our history."
- "We never forget Turkey's support"
"Somali people will never forget the generosity and brotherly support from the Turkish people and Turkish government. Since then the relations have been growing," Ga'al continued.
Regarding the latest visit of Somali Prime Minister to Turkey, "Especially our visit here to Turkey with the Prime Minister of Somalia in September, we discussed a lot of areas of our relationship, we discussed security, we discussed economic and cultural relations and we had a wide discussion that was reflecting all areas of mutual interest."
"The meetings we had with Prime Minister Erdogan, Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag, Interior Minister Muammer Guler and Deputy Foreign Minister Naci Koru, we all agreed to further enhance and to make relation better," he said.
- "Somali government controls the entire country except two small cities"
Regarding the security situation after Erdogan's visit to Somalia, Ga'al said, "The security situation has improved tremendously. When Turkish Prime Minister visited Somalia on August 19, 2011, some part of Mogadishu was under control of Al-Shabaab. Today Somali government controls the entire country except two small cities, and with help of our Turkish brothers and other friends, God willing we will defeat Al-Shabaab and bring stability and security to the whole of Somalia."
englishnews@aa.com.tr
