he Turkish Ambassador to the beleaguered, AMISOM-guarded Somalia, today, held a press conference in Mogadishu, in which he emphatically denied that his country recognized the Somaliland passport as a bona fide traveling document and that the Turkish government viewed Somalia and Somaliland as one country.
Ambassador Olgen Bekar said since his country was moderating the Somalia-Somaliland talks, it “viewed people in Somaliland and in Somalia as one”, and that his country wished to see a “Somalia that was a unified, strong country”.
The Ambassador further stated that the Turkish Consulate in Hargeisa issued visas on filled forms, and not on the Somaliland passport as was stated on July 21, in a similarly itemized press conference, by the Turkish Consular in Hargeisa, Muzaffer Yuksel.
Read More: Turkey Accepts Somaliland Passport as an Official Travel Document
Ambassador Bekar’s statements, today, confirmed to Somaliland that Turkey was never an impartial moderator as they also made it crystal clear that Hargeisa did not matter at all to Turkey or Turkish interests.
The Ambassador, it appears, echoed his master’s displeasure at a Somaliland that did not heed his expulsion orders of an educational institution in Somaliland – the Nile Academy – which was funded by Erdogan’s political opponent, Fethullah Gullen.
The Ambassador, also, reflected how deteriorated the psyche of rulers of aTurkey at war with itself was at the moment.
“Turkey chose sides and opted for a weak Somalia that it can mold to its will at will,” was an observation echoed by all of Somaliland politicians, academicians, and analysts following Saturday’s very revealing outburst of Ambassador Bekar in Mogadishu.
Observers are standing on toe-tips to prophesy what steps the Republic of Somaliland would take to respond to a country that has so clearly sided with its arch-enemy, not to mention the number of years it had hoodwinked Somaliland into a false lull withTurkey masquerading as an objective moderator in the Somaliland-Somalia talks since 2012.
One outcome of these developments does not escape the observant eye: Turkey should go back to history books and learn about a Somaliland that never bows to any amount of pressure.
