OPINION: Israel’s Recognition of Somaliland: A Strategic Alarm Bell for the Islamic World

By Ahmet Davutoğlu

Israel’s recognition of Somaliland today is not a distant development, but an alarm bell. It is part of a broader strategy to fragment Islamic countries and neutralize key states through encirclement. By doing so, Israel is not only dividing Somalia, a country that is 100% Muslim, and risking an internal war with Sudan-like mass atrocities, but also gaining access to the critically strategic Port of Berbera at the exit of the Red Sea, in the Gulf of Aden.

This move effectively encircles Egypt and Saudi Arabia, the two major powers of the Red Sea, as well as Türkiye, which has a highly strategic base in Somalia that is vital for our Africa policy. That such a development is taking place while the genocide in Gaza continues is nothing short of a humiliation for the Islamic world. The failure to foresee and act against this development is an unacceptable negligence.

In 2012–2013, when some Western countries attempted to divide Somalia by recognizing Somaliland’s independence, we acted decisively. We brought together Somali Federal President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and Somaliland President Ahmed Mohamed Silanyo in Ankara on April 11–13, 2013, and through a trilateral mechanism and a joint declaration, we blocked this plan.

Now is the time to act again. I urgently call on the President and the government to take the following steps:

1. Establish direct contact with the presidents of Somalia and Somaliland and invite them to Türkiye for face-to-face talks.

2. Appoint a special envoy and dispatch them to the region. The most qualified figure for this role is former Ambassador to Somalia, Kani Torun, who knows all regional actors closely.

3. Urgently consult with the leaders of Egypt and Saudi Arabia and send a joint delegation composed of the three countries’ foreign ministers to both sides.

4. Engage with the UAE, which operates the Port of Berbera, to warn and consult on Israel’s destructive, civil-war–provoking policies that could lead to proxy wars in Somalia after Sudan.

5. The leaders of these three countries should simultaneously and in coordination meet with U.S. leader Trump and UK Prime Minister Starmer to prevent any recognition of Somalia’s division.

6. Immediately establish contact with the Northeastern State federal administration, which represents nearly half of Somaliland’s population and has declared its loyalty to Mogadishu by rejecting secession.

7. Before developments escalate irreversibly, engage with Angola (Chair of the African Union), The Gambia (Chair of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation), and Lebanon (Chair of the Arab League) to call for urgent diplomatic action to preserve Somalia’s unity.

With every move, Israel is attempting to establish a hegemonic order stretching from the Caspian to Aden, from the Eastern Mediterranean to the Gulf. This development also clearly reveals that the so-called Abraham Accords are, at their core, an imperialist project aimed at further fragmenting the Islamic world and Africa into ever smaller pieces. All countries and leaders who fail to act against this will bear a grave historical responsibility.

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Ahmet Davutoğlu is the Chairman of Future Party. He also served as the 26th Prime Minister of the Republic of Türkiye.