House defense committee visits Turkish military academy in Mogadishu

Lower House defense committee Tuesday visited the Turkish military training academy in Mogadishu two months after it was opened.

The committee said the visit was aimed at familiarizing parliament on the working of the academy which is expected to train and house at least 1,000 soldiers at a time.

“The most important aspect was for us to see a training facility for our soldiers inside Somalia,” committee chairperson Hussein Isse told Goobjoog News.  “We saw training in progress but no trainees in the air force section. They told us that they are waiting us to furnish them with the selected individuals.”

The $50 million academy billed as Turkey’s largest overseas military school is expected to help Somalia reconstruct its military especially in light of African Union forces exit which starts gradually from next month.

The facility is among other training camps in Somalia. UAE operate training camps in the country in addition to training support from US and UK.