Erdogan penetrates Somalia, gets involved with terrorist Al-Shabaab
In order to support the Brotherhood
in Somalia, Turkish President Recep Erdogan has moved into the country to
allegedly support its stability, but contrary to his declared intent, he stuck
to the axis of terrorism, providing military training centers for the Somali Al-Shabaab
terrorist movement.
Terrorist links
Turkey is indirectly linked to
Al-Shabaab, such that Erdogan denies his covert connection or the accusation
that the movement is linked to al-Qaeda.
Al-Shabaab appeared in 2006 as one
of the military arms of the Islamic Courts Union (ICU), which had control of
the Somali capital, Mogadishu, and sought to establish an Islamist caliphate
there.
Turkish financing
In its beginning, the movement
supported the ICU, fighting against government forces backed by Ethiopian
forces, which were forced to withdraw at the end of 2008. It has been closely
linked to al-Qaeda since 2009, and it officially announced its loyalty to the terrorist
organization in 2012. Al-Shabaab’s ranks are made up of about 9,000 elements.
In 2019, Nordic Monitor explained
that the US government discovered information that funds were being transferred
to Al-Shabaab from Turkish intelligence.
Information provided by the Office
of the Assistant Secretary of the US Treasury for Terrorism and Financial
Intelligence stated that a Turkish citizen named Ibrahim Sen (37 years old) was
involved in transferring $600,000 to Al-Shabaab at the end of 2012.
Despite this, the Turkish Council
for the Investigation of Financial Crimes, headed by Erdogan’s son-in-law,
denied the existence of any evidence condemning the Turkish citizen and his
involvement in transferring funds to the Somali terrorist movement.
In July 2013, Global Economist
confirmed that the movement obtained funds from Qatar in previous years, and
thanks to this support, it collected large quantities of weapons and
ammunition.
Hostage release under Turkish
sponsorship
In 2020, Al-Shabaab’s release of
Italian hostage Silvia Romano opened questions about Turkish intelligence’s
relationship to terrorist groups in the Horn of Africa and Turkey's financing
of terrorism through the policy of freeing hostages.
Romano, an Italian activist, was
kidnapped from an orphanage in late 2018, returning to Italy two years later
after converting to Islam. Pictures of her wearing a veil have raised
suspicions in Italy about her possible exposure to brainwashing.
Italian newspaper Giornale di Puglia
revealed that a financial ransom of $3 million was paid to Al-Shabaab in
exchange for Romano’s release.
Qatari support
The former director of the Somali National Intelligence and Security Agency, Abdullahi Mohamed Ali Sanbalolshe, revealed that Qatar has provided financial support to Al-Shabaab, noting that the strong Qatari relations with the terrorist organization resulted in the Turkish government's success in obtaining the release of Romano.
