Somalilandsun: The absence of the government of Turkey in the just concluded consultative summit on relations between Somaliland and Somalia held in Djibouti begs questions.
The administration led by president Tayyip Erdogan has for the past eight been a major player in the stalled talks that are now being resuscitated by various regional and international stakeholders led by Djibouti and including Ethiopia, IGAD, the USA, AU and the EU among many others who were represented by high level delegations led by presidents, Prime minister, Ambassadors and senior representatives but devoid of any Turkish presence.
Though Ankara is yet to publicly state its stand some developments indicate that the Erdogan administration has thrown in the towel as can be exemplified by its appointed special mediator for talks between the two countries Ambassador Olgan Bekar who recently erased that titled from his twitter account.
At the same time on the 16-17 June this year and flanked by the Nur Sagman director of African desk at the Turkish foreign ministry ,Amb Olgan who is former Turkish envoy to Somalia held private consultations with Djibouti and Somalia envoys to that country Ambassador Adan Abdilahi and Ambassador Jama Aideed respectively.
Revealing this meeting in his twitter account Nur Sagman wrote during a meeting with the Djiboutian and Somalia diplomatic envoys to Turkey matters pertaining to our three countries and the Horn region were discussed. A similar acknowledgment of the meet was made via twitter by Amb Bekar
With the United States via its embassy in Mogadishu playing a very prominent role in resuscitating the Somaliland-Somalia talks and with the never ending political differences on the global stage between Ankara and Washington the absence of Turkey in the Djibouti meet or its complete withdrawal is just a matter of when.
While the withdrawal of Turkey from its mediation role will be a big blow to Somalia whose position of pursuing reunification is supported overtly by Turkey for Somaliland whose stance is sovereignty is irrevocable thence not negotiable it will be a blessing for many attribute failure of any concrete agreement on the Turkish stance.
