<cite> @xabad said:</cite> Turkey is different every Turk bays for blood when his government is involved with foreign countries. They are hyper nationalist and pig headed in their allegiance, party affiliations go out the door, very immature and medieval mindset. :D ok. this childish passing over the ball, changing profile names to say something, using offensive name callings, etc. Really I started to value and quality of discussion on this forum. If you are illiterate to read what is written and argued, instead providing chilldish arguements, your strategy to pollute and dilute contributions is sick and childish. You are a shameful person to call someone pigheaded. And if you and your kind dominate this forum, I think I should rather be somewhere else. You need to learn how to discuss, argue, share with a genuine curiosity and courtesy. This is called manners, civilised attitude, minimal intellect etc etc.. Think of those. I am very sorry that I took you seriously and answered your pollutive question. You are a total waste of time, shame for your culture and what that stands for. I wish you success on your endeavors in your petty tribalistic world. Be with Allah and away from normal people.

<cite> @xabad said:</cite> Bosmanoglu, Journalists Erdem Gul and Can Dundar of Cumhuriyet were imprisoned after exposing Turkish intelligence services sending weapons and ammunition to Islamist rebels fighting the Syrian regime. Please answer that you think all syrians are exactly same, from same factory!... let me give you some history tips.. Syria is exactly an analogy of Turkiye.. Both states are formed by old ottoman elite of Young Turks. In Syria case, arap elements from ottoman parliament formed Syria. Both states undergone modern state building proceses of secular, democratic structure. Until Asad family fell into baasism and sectarian rule of oppression, it was exactly what Turkiye is. Having said that, Syria has a considerable Turkmen population. Those Turkmen are exactly from "kayi" tribe that established Ottoman dynasty and has historical significance for Turkiye. Some of these Turkmens are shia, most sunni. There are kurds, in same split. Turkmens and Kurds live in joint villages and towns that exist on both Turkiye and Syria. For example a Turkish citizen wakes up in the morning in Turkish side of the town and goes to farm his field in Syrian part of town, or vise versa. Apart from these native elements, there are selefi butchers wandering around along with lebanese hizbullah that are hired butchers for Asad government. In a very small area of Syria, which is at mortar-artillery distance to Turkish towns, there are crowds of Iranian revolutionary guards, russian troops, shia arabs (called alevites there), caucassian cihadist boneheads and also some durzi cristians, asyyrians, yezidis etc etc. Those Turkmens, Arabs and Kurds living in north of Aleppo (halep) are more Turkish than Syrians economically, historically and culturally and our government sees them as such. When these people (not imported selefis, hizbullahs, iranians etc) are attacked daily with barrel bombs and heavy artillery, millions flock to Turkish border walking kms long death routes with elders and children at their backs, noone could expect Turkish government to be silent about it. Those common elements, had received, are receiving and will receive full support from Turkish government for their survival. That incident you have mentioned has happened by Gulen Tarikat (which everyone knows to be a part of intelligence organization of some of our beloved allies) when they started an all-out political war with ruling political party. They intercepted a Turkish intelligence convoy that were carrying basically ammunition (not weapons) to Turkmen and FSA militia. Later those so-called tarikat guys who took part in (prosecutor and others) are all judged and convicted for serving foreign powers' interests. Those 2 journalist had done nothing more than making news of this incident with material served to them by those tarikat operatives, like all the media in Turkiye, but they were the first. They could do that with constitutional protection of free press and personal liberties etc. At later stages of prosecution, court ruled for broadcast ban on this incident, all other media abided by this ruling. Those 2, one being head of traditional cumhuriyet paper, other news director of same paper, I guess with the trill of gaining fast-fame, defied court ruling and re-published those material. I don't agree for them to be jailed during trial (that is the status now) but they pushed limits of judicial system. I also believe no one (including journalists, politicians) can be above the law. Plus, looking at the new absurd orientation of a traditionally republican and leftist newspaper, I have difficulty to sympatize. These 2 turned a legendary newspaper into something not different then erdogan papers. We are not the only country supplying arms and ammunition to Syria, Iranians, Russians, Americans, Israelis and Germans are doing this regularly. They provide arms and ammunition to players that they feel close to. PKK uses latest Panzerfaust launchers now for example, donated from Germany, as if they are interested in killing daesh with those. Pkk terorists instead are using them to kill Turkish teachers, medics, policemen, soldiers etc within Turkiye's borders. All of these activities are criminal according to International law, including ours by the way. You cant send weapons and arsenal to a war zone under sanctions. So before judging our actions which have merit to support real moderate natives of region, you should think of American, German, Russian, Iranian weapons that are used by daesh, army of islam, nusra, hizbullah and psychopats alike. Check daesh videos and see what vehicles they are using and ask where they might come from. (there was one famous plumber truck from florida or something on news check it out, cool story) I guess I did my duty enough for the night to educate you with world realities....

<cite> @xabad said:</cite> Bosmanoglu, Journalists Erdem Gul and Can Dundar of Cumhuriyet were imprisoned after exposing Turkish intelligence services sending weapons and ammunition to Islamist rebels fighting the Syrian regime. Please answer that yes.. all syrians are exactly same, from same factory!... let me give you some history tips.. Syria is exactly an analogy of Turkiye.. Both states are formed by old ottoman elite of Young Turks. In Syria case, arap elements from ottoman parliament formed Syria. Both states undergone modern state building proceses of secular, democratic structure. Until Asad family fell into baasism and sectarian rule of opperation, it was exactly what Turkiye is. Having said that, Syria has a considerable Turkmen population. Those Turkmen are exactly from "kayi" tribe that established Ottoman dynasty and has historical significance for Turkiye. Some of these Turkmens are shia, most sunni. There are kurds, in same split. Turkmens and Kurds live in joint villages and towns that exist on both Turkiye and Syria. For example a Turkish citizen wakes up in the morning in Turkish side of the town and goes to farm his field in Syrian part of town, or vise versa. Apart from these native elements, there are selefi butchers wandering around along with lebanese hizbullah that are hired butchers for Asad government. In a very small area of Syria, which is at mortar-artillery distance to Turkish towns, there are crowds of Iranian revolutionary guards, russian troops, shia arabs (called alevites there), caucassian cihadist boneheads and also some durzi cristians, asyyrians, yezidis etc etc. Those Turkmens, Arabs and Kurds living in north of Aleppo (halep) are more Turkish than Syrians economically, historically and culturally and our government sees them as such. When these people (not imported selefis, hizbullahs, iranians etc) are attacked daily with barrel bombs and heavy artillery, millions flock to Turkish border walking kms long death routes with elders and children at their backs, noone could expect Turkish government to be silent about it. Those common elements, had received, are receiving and will receive full support from Turkish government for their survival. That incident you have mentioned has happened by Gulen Tarikat (which everyone knows to be a part of intelligence organization of some of our allies) when they started an all-out political war with ruling political party. They intercepted a Turkish intelligence convoy that were carrying basically ammunition (not weapons) to Turkmen and FSA militia. Later those so-called tarikat guys who took part in (prosecutor and others) are all judged and convicted for serving foreign powers' interests. We are not the only one to do this, Iranians, Russians, Americans and Germans are doing this regularly. They provide arms and ammunition to players that they feel close to. PKK uses latest Panzerfaust launchers now for example, donated from Germany, as if they are interested in killing daesh with those. Pkk terorists instead are using them to kill Turkish teachers, medics, policemen, soldiers etc within Turkiye's borders. All of these activities are criminal according to International law, including ours by the way. You cant send weapons and arsenal to a war zone under sanctions. So before judging our actions which have merit to support real moderate natives of region, you should think of American, German, Russian, Iranian weapons that are used by daesh, army of islam, nusra, hizbullah and psychopats alike. check daesh videos and see what vehicles they are using and ask where they might come from. I guess I did my duty enough for the night to educate you with world realities....

<cite> @xabad said:</cite> I know Turkey part manufactures relatively low tech military hardware for NATO member states, including the F 35, but still isn't in the big leagues of say France, Britain, Germany or even Sweden. Expulsion will not be overnight, rather a deliberate drawn out disengagement and downgrading of relations. I don't believe NATO upper echelon entrusts Turkey with critical intelligence at this point. History won't count for nothing, when Turks are busy arming terrorists in Syria and become a liability for the alliance in general. Turkey has an impressive military on paper, but so does North Korea and Pakistan, the important criteria is technological edge, Turkiye is lagging behind in this regard. Considering they wanted to procure Chinese missile defense last year - another source of friction with NATO, by the way - is clear they are behind. Power lies not in just crude manpower and hardware. Turkiye is still small kebab, evidence its failure in Syria. Well, you continue to amaze me with your lack information and your determination to broadcast it. About your lack of info on industry and technology market, Thales buys all radar subsytems from Aselsan my dear. That should be enough for you. I would like to invite you to reality on NATO issue. I have tried to explain you why it is impossible to dismiss a member of NATO because of interdependency of years but it seems it had no effect on you. When I was serving, I have served in a NATO army and participated to joint exercises, did you? In my civilian life, I have participated in many NATO seminars and conferences. Did you? There are many Turkish officers (colonels, generals) assigned in bases in US, Italy, Brussels, Afganistan etc. effectively commanding missions right at this moment. I don't have any impression that they are packing their bags to be deported in coming, lets say 50 years. There was a Turkish general commanding US soldiers in Somalia in 1993, do you have knowledge of that? And your Syria allegations are bit boring. Within last weeks, we had Sultanahmet bombing by Daesh, yesterday a school was hit by mortar and a schoolgirl killed in border town. Our artillery send 500 shells killing 80 daesh members in response. (US defence spokesperson was jumpig up and down with joy, marvellous operation just marvelous, yeayyy) Our troops in Iraq engaged daesh just recently killing 18 of them. And yet you still amaze me by insisting on our support to daesh blah blah. Facts contradict to this awkward dreamworld that you obtained from ostrich british media.

<cite> @Tallaabo said:</cite> Your statements could not be farther from the truth. I don't know where you are getting your information from Mr Bosmanoglu but Turkish aid outside Mogadishu is next to non-existant. Although the people of Somaliland will always be grateful to those who help them no matter how small such assistance is, Turkey is not in the minds of the people in SL when it comes to aid. I go to SL all the time and I know what I am talking about. For Somaliland, the Europeans and Americans are more important and trusted partners than the Turks. The only thing the people of Somaliland knew about Turkish involvement in our country were those useless mediation talks between SL and Somalia which were hosted by the Turkish government and which were abandoned when the Mogadishu government made a mockery of it. Yes, I admit that my information cannot be upto date like you, having experience on location. I generally read academic and news articles about politics of Somalia wherever is available. As I pointed out, "as far as I know" in my post. Information I have gathered was from Turkish sources about PL&SL mediation. After those joint talks, SL delegations came to Turkiye also. There was a framework agreement on aid and development with SL, security contribution against terrorism in Somalia was among them. And about presence/weight of Turkiye in SL, you may be right about imbalance due to priorites set by Turkish Government (which I explained in detail before). But I know for a fact that we support Turkish school, we have a medical assistance/training program for SL and also we maintain a chief-consulate in SL. It is not that we do nothing, but when it comes to Somalia in general, priorities are set according to urgencies with limited resources. It is understandable that you see and perceive US or UK because of your anglosaxon heritage. But you should also see the difference between our approach and theirs. For example, Turkish aid priority would not be speed boats to chase pirates, instead it would be water infrastructure for Hargeisa.

<cite> @Allyourbase said:</cite> Kan turkish propagandada waddaana goormuu meesha soo galay? Dude I sure hope you're getting paid for this shit well, I am not "dude!" first of all. A bit old and well educated for not to be called with this title. Second I am a private citizen of political science background who have interest on many regional political developments. If you'd not been lazy to read my earlier posts, I have explained it many times.

I forgot to mention about tribal divide... As I explained many times on my posts, our national policy is "state building" as well as "nation building". There is no discrimination on Turkish investments, scholarships, policies on tribal base. We have many PL,SL and JL students in our country. On Turkish schools and oprhanages there are kids from all tribes. Turkiye is mediating diplomatically between federal states. There is much progress on this respect. As far as I know, poorly equipped and trained SL militia will receive these military trainings as well which was agreed. JL already committed to be a part of Somalia national army. etc etc... I think it will come to point that all Somali elements will realize the critical aspect of "strong defence" and will trancend these tribalism. Economy also dictates that. Historical hostilities dictates that. Somali elements in Kenya, Ethiopia dictate that. Drooling western powers, chinese, araps dictate that, your maritime interests dictates that, so and so forth. There are much factors that unites all the tribes than it divides. You simply need to change your perspective.

First, you know little about how NATO works. This organization is beyond political and beyond military. It is deep into industries and economies as well as "deterrence". Turkiye is manufacturing dutch air defence, most of american F35 fighters, french helicopters critical parts, spanish ships backbones etc etc. The tiniest defence industry agreement is 20 year long like Sikorsky helicopter, pratt whitney engines, f16 fighters etc etc. Plus Turkiye maintains second largest nato army,navy and airforce, first in Europe. We have 80 nuclear missiles on our soil 40 of being ours, 40 US's which is backbone of NATO's nuclear deterrence. We host nato radar bases that covers romania till poland without which both countries is vulnerable to missile attack. So on so forth. So whoever thinks Turkiye will be "kicked out" from NATO is a misinformed person. It would be like all the western block shooting to their own heads. Plus, there are historical reasons of Turkiye's involvement, 5000 martyrs left in Korea, 70 year long cold war defence etc etc. Plus demographics is key factor. On a mobilization, we can round up 25 million strong army all under 30 years of age. Very few countries in the world is demographically capable of that. Yesterday I watched a seminar from a brit university on Central Asian politics. On that lecturer said, Russia's export item is "corruption". An american has said years ago that Turkish export item is "military and military discipline". These are few words coming from pros that express nation's political, social, economic cultures, hundreds of books in one word. Thats why our relations with Europe is a love&hate relationship. They dont want us because we are muslims but they cant do it without us.

its a scare tactic from erdogan... his suporters claim that those hundreds of intellectuals took an order from PKK terrorist group and publish that declaration accordingly. Every soul in Turkiye knows that it is a fat lie. Yet it is enough reason for prosecutors to question these people. Nothing will come out of this obviously, but as I said, he wants to scare these people. Erdogan is known to be a "pinchy" person, pushing buttons of opposition that creates great upheaval. He creates polarization and harvests political gain out of these reactions and confrontations. We got used to it in years. Prosecutors report to Ministry of Justice, so they jump on what politicians say. Judges on the otherhand doesn't report to them. They Report only to High Court of Judges (which he messes with and puts psychological pressure on judges at times ) Which is unrelated to my post.

ok before getting mud all over me, I should say RADIKAL is a very respectable newpaper and not pro-government News piece is about Somalia Army base to be built close to Moghadishu. It says that 20 Turkish Army Builders are now overseeing construction which is targeted to be finished end of summer. About size newspaper says base will be "in extreme scale" in which 10.000 service men will be trained. It will be much greater than Katar training base of Turkish Army. Final stage 200 Turkish officers will be assigned as trainers (along with a security contingent) http://www.radikal.com.tr/turkiye/somaliye-turk-askeri-egitim-ussu-1498998/

<cite> @xabad said:</cite> This poor piece is Turkish foreign policy propaganda not journalism. We know Iran and Turkey are at loggerheads. again you are reacting without information. Birgün is a socialist newspaper that is totally against "Turkish Foreign Policy". Writer and writers of this paper are prosecuted many times. They are reknown with their famous headline "hirsiz" (burglar) against president and spent months at courts for that.

I would like to share one article for you from a Turkish newspaper. http://www.birgun.net/haber-detay/es-sebab-in-kenya-dusmanliginin-asil-nedeni-iran-kenya-dostlugu-100950.html I saw many comments on regions, realism on being independent and away from cental Federal government etc. Please read this article and see what kind of political environment Somalia is in. And think if it would be safer to have one strong Somalia state or many tiny Somali states. ---------- Reason of Al-shabaab’s Kenya hatred: Iran-Kenya Friendship It is not a coincidence that Al-shabaab attacked a shopping center in September 2013 killing 68 people right after a comprehensive agreement is reached between Iran and Kenya. Being one of the most famous ultra religious terrorist organizations, Al-shabaab recently attacked and killed 60 Kenyan soldiers who were part of Peace Keeping Mission in Somalia. Al-shabaab considers Kenyan troops as an invading force but this is not the only motivation behind this attack, there is also religious sectarian reason: Kenya is best partner of Iran in Africa which Al-shabaab considers as enemy. Iran and Kenya has close cooperation on agriculture, housing, oil, natural gas and electricity production. Saudi Arabia supported Wahhabi organization Al-shabaab, considers it as a threat of Shia influence on region's Muslim nations. The real reason of Iran’s reach to Africa and establish friendships is to counter Israel’s activities in region. Israel has eyes on Africa due to its security concerns; especially in Ethiopia they have a serious military presence. Ethiopia being neighbor to many Arab states, this is a serious situation. Iran’s presence in Eritrea is counter-balanced by this presence and it is vital for Israel. Iran is providing guns and armament to Shia Hutsis in Yemen thru Assab seaport of Eritrea. At the same time Israel is trying to increase its influence on Kenya and Cibuti. Let’s remember Cibuti cut its ties with Iran recently. Israel’s Concerns Iran having Sudan as its center for operations is targeting to be dominant in region; paying attention to Bab-ul Mendep water corridor which is one of the most important international water corridors of the world. This corridor connects Red Sea to Aden Gulf and to Suez Canal which Israel tantalize. Iran is operating in region for both to increase its strategical power and to be able to deliver its oil securely. On these targets, Israel is not the only obstacle to Iran. Somalia origined Al-shabaab is a more important concern for them. This group is very close to Saudi Wahhabism which is the most hardline sect of sunni faith. They play the same tune, even to the point to share their unlimited hatred towards mosques. They often target sufi mosques in region. When Kenya and Iran became Friends It became clear why Al-shabaab targets Kenya at this point; Kenya and Iran signed many long-term agreements on many topics. Countries have direct flights among them and many Kenyan students are attending to Iranian Universities. Start of these cooperation dates back to 2009 when Iranian President Mahmud Ahmedinejat visited Kenya. In 2012, Iran Vice President Muhammed Rıza Rahimi visited Kenya to sign an agreement on oil. According to agreement, Kenya is buying 80 thousand barrels of oil Daily from Iran. Iran is best customer for Kenya Tea. %20 of Kenya’s tea is sold to Iran. Beginning from 2012, West headed by US warned Kenya on international sanctions against Iran. Kenya was mentioned among strategical partners of US against war on terror. Despite this fact, Kenya never cut its ties with Iran and keeping a low profile against West on relations to Iran. It is clear that Al-shabaab is not targeting Kenya only because it considers Kenya as an occupying force. At the same time it is a fact that group is targeting to end Kenya-Iran relations in the motivation of ending “spread of Shia” in region. Kenya made agreements with Israel on agriculture but this didn’t motivate Al-shabaab attacks. However, when there is a development on Iran-Kenya relations, attacks come; like September 2013 shopping mall incident that they killed 68 people.

<cite> @xabad said:</cite> Do you support Daesh ? What a pointless question. My dear friend I am a member of CHP (Republican People's Party) for years... Do you want to see my membership card's picture? I see great confusion in you. Let me give you some thoughts to roll a bit. 1. Islam and modernity doesnt conflict. As in the case of my country 2. Left wing politics doesnt conflict with patriotism. As in my case 3. Minority psychology is more reactionary then majority's oppression motive. As in your case.

I would like to share this report of “East African Geopolitics and Turkiye’s Somali Policy” with you. There were many interesting highlights. This is the most comprehensive report ever published about Somalia in Turkiye. Researcher and academician Mehmet Ozkan prepared this report according to government archives of Turkiye, interviews with diplomats and NGOs and Somalia politicians. SETA foundation prepared a panel meeting last year to discuss this report with participation of: Mehmet Ozkan (writer) Dr. Kani Torun (former ambassador of Turkiye to Somalia) Muhammed Mursel Abdurrahman (ambassador of Somalia to Turkey – former diplomat, MP and politician in Somalia) Mehmet Ozkan’s speech: He made a summary of report. There were important highlights. First, he mentioned about stages of development strategy (which I mentioned on my first post). Most important comments was about initial stage of Somalia Campaign from Turkish perspective. He said Somalia experience changed whole Turkish Aid perspective. Beforehand only state-building experience for Turkiye was Northern Cyprus with small region, very close to Turkiye and population of 250.000. But Somalia was a totally new experience for Turkey on scales. Intensity and seriousness of situation on the field was critical. Huge geography and bigger population, hostile security environment and tribal divides were challenges. Turkiye when engaged, found itself in “high politics” game; as a country expected more tasks to perform politically along with traditional aid activities. Plus there were no information available for Turkish institutions on Somalia for them to get prepared, later we learned everything on-the-fly. Biggest challenge was to coordinate several state institutions, NGOs (Turkish and local) and local administration. Scale of tasks created so much confusion that Turkey had to reorganize itself on Prime Minister level both in Ankara and Mogadishu. But in the end, there were a Somalia desk formed and Somalia Coordinator assigned in Turkish Foreign Ministry. After initial tasks (relief efforts) finished, perception of Turkiye among Somalis has risen incredibly. So much so that perception was “Turkiye as a super country”. This is mainly because Turkish projects and efforts to internationalize Somalia problem, was a decades long expectation in Somalia. It created an overreaction. He says this is a problem to address, to change this perception as “Turkiye as a normal country” because it attracts all the arrows towards Turkiye, both from domestic political conflicts and also from international players. High-Consulate opened in Hargeisa, also close communication with Jubbaland and Puntland was efforts to change this perception. There is a risk of “aid fatigue” for Turkiye. Turkish and Local Governments should keep the pace on development activities. If failed, this could slow down even halt activities by creating a “fatigue effect”. Muhammed Mursel Abdurrahman’s speech: (in English) He talked like a politician and diplomat  didn’t say much except warm feelings and expectations. Highlight was “Somalia today is rising again” and Turkiye’s efforts are shining example for other countries and organizations. Only white faces we had in Somalia was Turkish people recently. Dr. Kani Torun’s speech: He repeated a presentation that he gave to World Bank about Somalia. There were very important and interesting points. I want to go into detail here a bit. 1. He said there are no statistics available about Somalia for the last 30 years. For example, in sources you can see that Somalia has a population around 10 million. I have spent years in Somalia and as a medical doctor my gut-feeling tells me that Somalia population cannot be lower than 15 million. 2. Somalia was left to itself for 16 years after UN and US withdrawal. (1995-2011). UN operating from Nairobi, they even didn’t come to Mogadishu airport. They always have the same story when he attended their meetings, 3Cs (communication-coordination-cooperation). That’s all they were discussing among themselves all the time and he says “I have grown tired of it” 3. Slide on 34:23 min of video is most important. This is principals of Turkish Engagement in everything done in Somalia. 1. Urgent humanitarian problems are first importance. 2. Planned approach on short and mid term problems with emphasis on “concrete projects” 3. Decrease dependency on Aid, transfer of institutions to local administration (every Turkish project has a deadline that is set and is transferred to Somali institutions and personnel afterwards) 4. Direct approach for fast and effective results (he mentions here that if you put your aid into UN channel, only %20 reaches to target population. So we quit this and used %100 aid directly) 5. No decision without consulting local authorities and participation of local population 6. Funding local initiatives with supervision of Turkish Officials (here he very diplomatically and politely says there is a serious risk of corruption and government took all the measures not to be a part of it) 7. Non-interference into local politics. (in here he says 2 important things. One of it is: some western ambassadors and also neighboring countries ambassadors, also int. organizations interferes into local politics to the point to impose changes in ministers, department heads etc. This created too much reaction in Somalia Government and parliament but generally it is not voiced outside. Mr. Torun said our policy was to work with whoever is selected/appointed to the position. We worked with many ministers that changed in time, 2 presidents etc.) Then he gives examples of projects done. Hospitals, Schools, wells, road building, garbage management etc. On statistics, he mentioned bad numbers on trade volumes, child death rate etc. In here he makes an interesting point. He says Somali people is distinguished from Africa by their entrepreneurship nature. He said if we could create the right environment, rest will be done by this Entrepreneur spirit/businessman mentality of Somalis. We engaged in diplomatic tasks. One was a program to rehabilitate/regain elshabab militants. Other was to mediate relations with Somalia and its neighbors. Also hosting reginal governments in Turkiye for open discussions. Turkish Government created a fund to attract qualified and educated diaspora people to return to Somalia and work for government. He said we made a detailed investigation, checked and interviewed candidates etc. Many didn't get excited to work in Somalia environment and benefits provided. Now in every government department there are people from diaspora and Turkiye provides their wages from this fund. Questions part: Turkish Health Ministry Official asked: how about Somalis living in other countries? What is the status of aid activities there? Mr. Torun responded that there is a considerable immigrant population in Kenya Dadab camp. With Red Crescent, IHH, Earth doctors and state institutions we provided aid. Also Somalis in Ethiopia were in urgent need of humanitarian aid which was provided. He added this is our first engagement in this scale and context. This is a first to us also. Monetary requirements exceeded 300 mil dolar (at the time). Our efforts was state building but more importanty “nation building” because of deep tribal divides in the country. It comes to the point that some tribe's tribalism exceeds their nationalism. Somali Student of Political Science asks: Why Turkish organizations didn’t establish their own organizations in Somalis? Also why Turkish organizations didn’t collaborate with local organizations? Mr. Torun responded that they did everything possible to attract Turkish companies to come to Somalia. “We encouraged, subsidized and even begged them” Airport and Seaport management companies came here on this context. Reason why they couldn’t convince more companies was (1) infrastructure problems, electricity problem mainly. (2) legal guarantees, there is an uncertainty on laws especially for long term investments. (my idea here: new/final constitution and electoral system is way overdue. Mostly because long lasting negotiations with PL and hope of reconciliation with SL. Resolution on these will open the way for fast-track investments) Mr. Torun also said that cooperation with local initiatives is among our principles. We need someone to handover management after our set deadline. In this respect, IHH’s partner is Zemzem, Earth Doctors work with Benadir University, Yardımeli works with Menhal. (Only Kimse yok mu and Nil works outside Turkish Government set principle and work alone). IHH transferred orphanage and school to Zemzem already, Yardımeli will transfer hospital to Menhal after completion. Mr. Abdurrahman responded: We have more than 2000 students in Turkiye now. Before there were no one speaking Turkish language in Somalia but now there are many. In this respect, there is a bright future and we are moving in the right direction. Last questions taken altogether: A journalist asks: What were common activities with local and international media in Somalia? A Somali Academician asked: About students that attend to Turkish universities, we have great hopes about them and their future contribution to Somalia. What do you think about this? A professor medical doctor asks: We are investing to create qualified human resources to Somalia. So what is the guarantee that these educated young people will go back to Somalia and contribute? Is there a risk of brain-drain? Mr. Abdurrahman responded: Somalia has natural resources but in order to be able to exploit these, you need human resource. Many of our student decide to go back to Somalia and contribute. Mr. Torun responded: First I would like to answer about media. We supported local media institutions monetarily and as equipment. For example we supported local media academy. We have invited Somalia TV and Radio specialists to have practical training in Turkish Radio and Television. Another aspect is, we are receiving many requests, especially from Universities about Turkish language training in Mogadishu. We want to set up Yunus Emre Institute (equivalent of British Council for Turkish Language Training) so that we could provide language training to universities, chambers of commerce and students. This would help and quicken communication with Turkish counterparts. Lastly I want to comment on brain-drain problem. When I was graduated from medical school, at the time there was “compulsory mission” for students like me that received government support. We were supposed to work within Turkiye for 5 years. For that they didn’t give us diplomas, they gave us only papers that were only valid in Ministry of Health that we were supposed to work for. This was our brain-drain stopper system at the time. Now, Somali students come here for education. Some marry here and stay, that could be acceptable. But whole point of this much trouble is to create qualified human resource for Somalia. If a person graduates and runs to a western country, that means we totally failed in this mission. So I have suggested to use a system that we had decades ago to Somali students. Lets give them a target, 3-4 years that they have to work within Somalia, and after they did that, they could get their international diplomas. Mehmet Ozkan’s responded: Somalia could only develop by Somalis themselves. Our role here is just to provide them tools and education is a very important aspect of it. So this scholarship program and return of these students are very important.

Ok may be you will think irrilated but I want you to see this video. In this video Turkish fishing boat is harassed by greek coast guard ship and helicopter. (with blue stripes) Fishermen uses their radar to give coordinates to Turkish Coast Guard and ask for help. They say greeks are getting ready to board us. 5 mins later Turkish Coast Guard arrives (red stripe) and expells greeks from our water. fishermen continues fishing. Moral of story is: 1. Economy and security goes hand in hand. 2. Somali Coast Guard should reach to this level and it will insaallah. Fight with illegal fishing, and protect Somali boats (even from friendly nighbours) 3. Somali fishermen should learn to employ these modern techniques, fish sonar, radar, radio communication etc. After those, I totally agree. Somalia could be a world player on fishing industry.