Erdogan's Africa tour
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose aspirations for regional leadership have failed, has begun trying to acquire leadership of the Islamic world on his Africa tour.
Just as Kurds were jubilantly celebrating the end of the Islamic State (IS) siege of Kobani, a city that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared on Oct. 7 to be on the verge of falling, another part of the world — the Horn of Africa countries and especially Somalia — were witnessing a show put on by Turks playing for the leadership of the Muslim world.
Erdogan, who started his Africa tour from Ethiopia, interrupted it for a short while to attend the funeral of Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, and then resumed it with visits to Djibouti and Somalia.
Erdogan, who had made history on Aug. 19, 2011, as the first nonregional leader to visit Somalia in 22 years, was greeted with joy by Somalis on his second visit on Jan. 25.
During his Mogadishu visit, Erdogan participated in the opening of the new terminal built by Turkish contractors at Mogadishu's Aden Adde International Airport and in the inauguration of the 200-bed hospital built by the Economic and Coordination Agency of Turkey. Turkey will provide the hospital with specialized personnel and financial support for the next five years. Erdogan promised construction of 10,000 dwellings in Mogadishu. Turkish Airlines, which has been flying regularly to Somalia since 2012, announced it would increase its flights to daily.
