Türkiye has emerged as the most positively-viewed foreign partner among Somali citizens surveyed in four major urban centres, with a new public-opinion study finding that a clear majority regard Ankara as Somalia’s most important ally and believe its presence is making their communities better.
The findings, contained in a study by the Sababi Institute, was released this week and offers a detailed snapshot of how Somalis in Marka, Jowhar, Adado and Bossaso regions perceive external powers involved in the country’s security, politics, development and economic affairs.
According to the survey, 68 per cent of respondents named Türkiye as Somalia’s greatest ally, placing it ahead of the other actors examined.
Separately, 81 per cent of respondents said Türkiye was having a positive effect on their location, while Türkiye was preferred over other countries in 83 per cent of the head-to-head comparisons concerning Somalia’s security.
The results are particularly notable because they cut across different political and geographical settings.
The four locations include communities in areas associated with both the federal government of Somalia and Puntland, while Bossaso, on the Gulf of Aden, has historically seen a more limited direct Turkish footprint than Mogadishu.
The research was conducted in March 2026 by Mohamed Keynan, Manar Zaki and Partha Moman and involved 1,205 Somali citizens.
The researchers asked respondents four questions. The first asked, without offering a list of answers, which country or institution they considered Somalia’s most important ally. The second asked which external actor they considered Somalia’s greatest threat.
The third question asked respondents whether a randomly selected actor made their location better or worse. The fourth presented respondents with a head-to-head comparison between two randomly selected actors and asked which would be better for Somalia’s security.
The survey attempted to measure perceptions across several dimensions, including alliance, perceived impact and security.
Türkiye received its strongest showing on the question of alliance, with 68 per cent of respondents across the four cities identifying the country as Somalia’s greatest ally.
The Sababi researchers similarly point to the visibility of Turkish engagement as a possible explanation for the survey’s results.
“It is possible that this resoundingly positive perception of Türkiye reflects the very visible nature of its engagement in Somalia since 2011,” the researchers wrote
They also pointed to infrastructure as a potentially important component of positive public perceptions, including projects associated with Mogadishu airport, the port and the Somali-Türkiye Training and Research Hospital.
Türkiye has trained Somali military personnel through the Somalia-Türkiye military training partnership, including at the TURKSOM facility in Mogadishu. This has assisted Somalia to build national security institutions capable of assuming greater responsibility for the country's security, while confronting the continuing threat posed by al-Shabab terrorists.
A generation of Somali professionals educated in Türkiye now occupies positions across the public and private sectors.
Türkiye's development agency, TİKA, has been another important component of the relationship. One of the most prominent symbols of the partnership is the Somalia-Türkiye Training and Research Hospital, opened in Mogadishu in 2015.
Sababi is a research centre based in Hargeisa that focuses on improving the quality and availability of research and data in the Horn of Africa.
