Mogadishu government has submitted an official complaint to the Government of Ankara against its consul General in Hargeisa Somaliland.
According to Geeska Afrika, the Somalia foreign minister Dr Abdisalaan Hadliye has dispatched a diplomatic note to the counterpart in Ankara demanding the recall of its Somaliland consul General Amb Muzaffer Yuksel.
The SFG is accusing Amb Yuksel of promoting the disunity of Somalia by facilitating the stamping of Turkish visas on passports of the yet to the recognised republic of Somaliland.
During a recent press briefing in Hargeisa the consul general revealed that citizens of Somaliland shall be able to travel officially to Turkey with their local passports.
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“While we shall start servicing the general public soon, it is worth mentioning the Somaliland first family currently in Turkey were issued visas on their national passports, organisations,” said Amb Yuksel at the briefing.
The envoy made the reference on the president who was then in Turkey on a private visit adding that a subsequent team of Government officials to Ankara has also had their Somaliland passports stamped with official visas.
In his letter of complaint a discernibly angry minister Hadliye is reported to have written, “While the Turkish government is fighting against coup plotters in country, it’s consul general in Hargeisa is promoting promoting the complete division of Somalia through promises of visas to our citizens stamped on the illegal passport produced by our northern region”, read Somaliland, which has for 25 years pretended to be an Independent country.
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While Somaliland withdrew from its 1960 voluntary Union with Somalia in 1991 the authorities in Mogadishu who despite their inability to protect themselves thence rely on international troops continue to regard Somaliland as its northern region.
It is not clear what the effect the letter by minister Hadliye shall have on relations with Turkey considering that Authorities in Hargeisa have refused to follow their counterparts in Mogadishu and ban all Organisations after president Tayyip Erdogan accused its leader Sheikh Gulen of being behind the recent unsuccessful coup.
