By Zakarie Hassan - Reporter
Turkiye, 27 December, 2025 Former Turkish Prime Minister, Ahmet Davutoğlu has warned that Israel’s recognition of Somaliland is not an isolated diplomatic step, but part of a wider strategy aimed at fragmenting the region and weakening key Muslim-majority states through political and strategic encirclement.
In a detailed statement published on his official X account, Davutoğlu warned that the move constitutes an “alarm bell” for the Islamic world, arguing that it risks dividing Somalia—a country he described as entirely Muslim—and could pave the way for an internal conflict similar to Sudan, with the potential for mass atrocities. He cautioned that Israel’s recognition would also grant it access to the strategically critical Port of Berbera, located at the exit of the Red Sea into the Gulf of Aden.
According to Davutoğlu, the development effectively tightens strategic pressure on Egypt and Saudi Arabia, the two principal powers overseeing Red Sea security, while also targeting Türkiye, which maintains a highly strategic military base in Somalia central to Ankara’s Africa policy. He added that the timing of the move, as the war in Gaza continues, represents a profound humiliation for the Islamic world.
Davutoğlu criticized what he described as a serious failure to anticipate and counter the recognition, recalling that a similar attempt was blocked in 2012–2013. At that time, he said, Türkiye played a decisive role by bringing Somali Federal President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and Somaliland leader Ahmed Mohamed Silanyo together in Ankara between April 11 and 13, 2013. Through a trilateral mechanism and a joint declaration, the effort to divide Somalia was halted.
Stressing that “now is the time to act again,” Davutoğlu called on the Turkish president and government to take immediate diplomatic steps. He urged direct engagement with the presidents of Somalia and Somaliland and proposed inviting both leaders to Türkiye for face-to-face talks. He also called for the appointment of a special envoy to the region, naming former Turkish ambassador to Somalia Kani Torun as the most qualified candidate due to his close familiarity with regional actors.
Davutoğlu further urged urgent coordination with Egypt and Saudi Arabia, proposing the dispatch of a joint delegation composed of the three countries’ foreign ministers to both sides. He also called for engagement with the United Arab Emirates, which operates the Port of Berbera, to warn and consult on what he described as Israel’s destabilizing policies that could provoke civil war and trigger proxy conflicts in Somalia, following the Sudan precedent.
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He additionally called for coordinated, simultaneous meetings between the leaders of Türkiye, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia with U.S. President Donald Trump and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, aimed at preventing any international recognition of Somalia’s division.
Davutoğlu also urged immediate contact with the Northeastern State federal administration, which he said represents nearly half of Somaliland’s population and has publicly rejected secession while reaffirming its loyalty to Mogadishu.
Before the situation escalates irreversibly, he called for diplomatic engagement with Angola, as Chair of the African Union; The Gambia, as Chair of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation; and Lebanon, as Chair of the Arab League, to push for urgent collective action to preserve Somalia’s unity.
Concluding his remarks, Davutoğlu warned that Israel is attempting to establish a hegemonic order stretching from the Caspian to Aden and from the Eastern Mediterranean to the Gulf. He argued that the Abraham Accords are, at their core, an imperialist project designed to further fragment the Islamic world and Africa into ever smaller entities, warning that leaders who fail to act against this trajectory will bear a grave historical responsibility.
