Parliament to discuss extension of Turkish forces’ deployment in Gulf of Aden

ANKARA

The Turkish presidency on Feb. 3 submitted a motion on the extension of Turkish forces serving in the strategic areas of Gulf of Aden, Somalia and the Arabian Sea.

The presidency submitted the motion on the extension of the deployment of Turkey’s naval forces in Gulf of Aden, Somalia, the Arabian Sea, and neighboring regions, to the parliament’s speaker’s office.

The motion oversees a one-year extension of naval forces, starting on Feb. 10, 2020, a week after its submission. If approved, it will extend authorization of the deployment through Feb. 10, 2021.

Parliament is set to discuss the motion on Feb. 4.

The motion was first submitted and approved by parliament in 2008. In 12 years, the deployment of Turkey’s naval forces has been extended 12 times.

The United Nations Security Council in June 2008 unanimously adopted a resolution that allows the states’ cooperation with Somalia’s transitional government for six months, and entry into the territorial waters of Somalia and use “all necessary means to repress acts of piracy and armed robbery at sea.” The text was adopted with Somalia’s consent.

For the following period, the UNSC renewed its resolution numerous times, with the final one being on Dec. 4, 2019.

On Dec. 4, the UNSC unanimously adopted resolution 2500, renewing 12 months of authorization for states and regional organizations’ “cooperation with Somalia” to utilize ways in a bid to fight piracy off the country’s coast.

The renewed resolution called on the states and regional organizations to deploy naval forces and military aircraft for the fight against piracy.

Gulf of Aden, near Yemen and close to the world’s fourth biggest chokepoint for oil transit -the Bab el-Mandab strait, is a strategic energy root for the crude oil of the Middle East.