The massive Turkish aid drive to troubled East African nation Somalia continues unabated with Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdağ making an appearance in Mogadishu on Tuesday to coordinate assistance efforts.
Bozdağ, who landed in the Somali capital on the first flight of Turkish Airlines (THY) to the country, attended ceremonies to officially inaugurate a series of facilities built by Turkish governmental and nongovernmental organizations. He was accompanied by Turkish Cooperation and Development Agency (TİKA) head Serdar Çam, Prime Ministry Disaster and Emergency Management Directorate (AFAD) director Fuat Oktay and THY General Manager Temel Kotil.
Turkey has been leading a worldwide campaign to help drought-stricken Somalia since last year and organized fund-raising drives both at home and in international forums. Turkey has sent $365 million (TL 640 million) in cash and aid in kind to Somalia over the past year, according to AFAD.
It reopened its embassy in Mogadishu in November of last year and appointed Cemalettin Kani Torun as ambassador. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan tasked his deputy Bozdağ with coordinating the aid operation to Somalia. His mandate includes a regular visit to Mogadishu to check on the progress the aid groups and government agencies are making on the ground. Bozdağ last went to Somalia in November.
Officials say the start of THY flights indicates the growing confidence of Turkey and the international community in the relative peace in the violent-ravaged East African nation. THY will fly to Mogadishu twice a week via Khartoum with flights departing on Tuesday and Thursday from its İstanbul hub, Atatürk Airport, and return from Mogadishu on Wednesday and Friday. By adding the Mogadishu flights to its network, Star Alliance member Turkish Airlines now reaches 190 destinations worldwide.
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| The Sahara Hospital, built by the Turkish Health Ministry in Somalia’s famine-stricken city of Mogadishu, treated nearly 500 patients on its first day of opening. (Photo: Today's Zaman) |
Bozdağ, who is in charge of coordinating Turkish aid to famine-struck Somalia, attended opening ceremonies for a public well set up by TİKA, the Şifa Hospital built by Yeryüzü Doktorları Derneği (Association of the World's Doctors), a public bazaar built by Turkish charity Kimse Yok Mu (Is Anybody There) and a government service building and well constructed by the Greater İstanbul Municipality.
Turkey also provided scholarships to 440 Somalia students to study in vocational schools, divinity schools and universities in Turkey. All students arrived in Turkey in early February, and they are currently going through Turkish language courses before starting their education in their fields in Turkish cities -- İstanbul, Samsun, Kastamonu and Konya. Separate from the governmental grants in education, Kimse Yok Mu also built one school in the capital and is in the process of building another one. It provided scholarships to 500 successful Somali students. Kimse Yok Mu officials say they have already brought 350 of them to Turkey for an education.
The Turkish Red Crescent set up a tent city to accommodate 10,000 people in Mogadishu and provides meals and health care to its residents on a daily basis. The Red Crescent Society is also building a nursing school and a health technician vocational school in the Somali capital of Mogadishu to train health personnel. Officials here say that there is currently a shortage of trained personnel in Somalia due to the civil war that has been going on for years, adding that the biggest shortage of trained personnel was in the health sector. Once completed, the school will train nearly 1,500 students a year.
The Housing Development Administration of Turkey (TOKİ) has started construction of a hospital with a 250-bed capacity. The private charity group Kimse Yok Mu also started building a new hospital, which will have a 100-bed capacity. Bozdağ said there are four hospitals currently being constructed with the support of the Turkish governmental and nongovernmental organizations. “Once they are finished, they will have a capacity of 550 beds,” he noted.
Kimse Yok Mu has also organized regular trips for Turkish doctors to provide medical care to the poor and needy in Somalia. A group of 30 Turkish doctors goes to Somalia every 20 days and leaves when a new group of doctors arrives.
Kimse Yok Mu is also renovating Banadir Hospital in Mogadishu, the largest in the entire country, after signing a protocol with the Somali government in October. The charity group plans to spend nearly $10 million to repair the hospital, which still bears the signs of a longstanding civil war in every corner of the building. The charity group provided the essential equipment and materials for the hospital. Hospital personnel were sent to Turkey on an internship.
Charity groups, including Kimse Yok Mu, are also involved in building fresh water reservoirs and public wells at two camps in Somalia. They operate three orphanages.
In the London Conference on Somalia, held last month, world leaders pledged to help tackle terrorism and piracy in Somalia but insisted that the East African state must quickly form a stable government and threatened penalties against those who hamper its progress.
Nations including Turkey also pledged new funding, additional training for soldiers and the coast guard, increased cooperation on terrorism and a new drive to root out those who finance and profit from piracy. Somalia has had transitional administrations for the past seven years but has not had a functioning central government since 1991, when warlords overthrew a longtime dictator and turned on each other, plunging the nation into chaos.
Turkey announced that it will host a follow-up summit on Somalia's future in June to further shore up support for the East African nation.
Published on Today's Zaman, 06 March 2012, Tuesday
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