Thursday June 8, 2023
Somali writer Ayse Hasen Senkayi wrote a book about Somali-Turkish relations as a token of gratitude to Turkey for supporting her country.
A book titled “Somali-Turkish relations between 1517-2023” is among the works of great interest at the International Book Fair in Mogadishu.
In an interview with Anadolu, the writer said that she wrote the book to express gratitude to Turkey for the services rendered to Somalia.
According to the writer, her love for Islam and Ottoman history prompted her to study the roots of Ottoman-Somali relations.
Senkayi noted that she wrote her work in three years, spending a lot of time analyzing sources.
The writer said that she finished her work at the end of May and managed to publish it for the International Book Fair in Mogadishu.
According to her, relations between Somalia and Turkey date back to the period of the Adal Sultanate in the 14th century. “Against the background of the oppression of the Portuguese colonizers who dominated the Red Sea, the Adal Sultanate turned to the Ottoman state for help. The Ottomans took into account the significance of the ports of Zeyli and Berbera in Somalia in terms of the preservation of Islamic shrines and thus a relationship was born. The Ottomans provided logistical support to the Somali sultanates who waged many wars against Portuguese and British colonialism and the Kingdom of Abyssinia,” the writer said.
According to her, the Ottomans built mosques and organized Koran courses in the cities of Berbera and Zeyli in order to spread Islam. “This has expanded the ties between the two countries not only in military, but also in educational, commercial and cultural relations. All these initiatives in the past have partially survived to this day in the regions under consideration,” the writer added.
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