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Somalia Has Become a Proxy of Turkey
(Israel Hayom) Shay Gal - Turkey, a NATO state, is projecting power far beyond its borders to Somalia in East Africa, and everyone looks away. Turkey's missile-testing project in Somalia is part of a mosaic Ankara has built for over a decade: Russian-fueled nuclear infrastructure in Akkuyu in Turkey; Pakistani nuclear and missile expertise embedded through military channels; discreet uranium routes explored via Niger; and now a long African coastline to test delivery systems without oversight. Under development banners, Turkey has a base training thousands of Somali soldiers, an airport and port under long concessions, a national hospital bearing Erdogan's name, and a Turkish state bank - the first foreign bank in Somalia in half a century. This is leverage, not philanthropy. Somalia receives protection and infrastructure; Turkey receives coastline, concessions, deniability and a launch corridor. In Libya, Turkey turned an intervention into a semi-permanent presence, with airbases at Al-Watiya and Misrata. Somalia is not beyond Israel's horizon. The distance from Israel to Somalia is nearly identical to Yemen - and only marginally farther than to Iran. Jerusalem's eyes are open. Somaliland, an unrecognized state north of Somalia, has political contacts with neighboring Ethiopia and Djibouti, as well as with Canada, France, Kenya, Norway, Russia, South Africa, Sweden, UK, and U.S. Partners have deployed Israeli-manufactured early-warning systems in Somaliland to improve counter-Houthi maritime awareness. Israeli-origin capabilities do not shift theaters without policy behind them.