Duvar English
Saturday August 7, 2021
Turkey has decided to donate 30 million dollars to Somalia, which will be divided into 2.5 million dollars per month, as per an international agreement signed between the two countries in July.
The decision was published in the Official Gazette on Aug. 5 with the signature of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. “It has been decided that the Donation Agreement signed between the Turkish Republic Government and Somalia Federal Republic Government on July 1, 2021 takes effect,” read the decision.
As per the agreement, the money has been decided to be used for Somalia's “budget financing and institutional capacity building.”
In 2016, Turkey had allocated a donation of 24 million dollars to Somalia, whereas it later allocated 30 million dollars in each 2017 and 2019, reaching 84 million dollars in total over a period of three years.
The donation has raised eyebrows among Turkish social media users, who pointed to Turkey's lack of firefighting planes amid ongoing wildfires.
Social media users recalled that the Turkish Aeronautical Association (THK)'s planes had been excluded from firefighting efforts on the grounds that the organization was lacking sufficient financial means to renew its fleet.
“It turns out that Recep Tayyip Erdoğan donated 30 million dollars to Somalia, instead of buying a firefighting plane. A total of six firefighting planes could have been bought with this money,” main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) MP Alpay Antmen wrote on Twitter.