A Message of Gratitude to President Erdogan and The Turkish People

Time to say thank you

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: He who does not thank the people is not thankful to Allah.

For the third time in the last two weeks since the pandemic of Covid-19 began, we have received medical supplies from the government of Turkey such as masks, test kits, and other equipment not to forget more importantly the 5,000 units of the newly Turkish-made ventilators.

This medical help in such difficult times speaks much value about the human character of President Erdogan and the Turkish people in general.

They say “a friend in need is a friend indeed”. This is very true indeed. But in my view, this is more than friendship.

This can only be described as a brotherhood and to support this claim I have proof from one of President Erdogan’s latest tweet which said the following: The ventilators, made through recent technological advances, will be the

“breath of life for our Somali brothers”.

The historic day

This was not the first time the President and his people came to the rescue of their brothers in Somalia.

Back in 2011 when the drought hit the country very severely and people were dying from famine, it was him, President Erdogan who took the brave decision to intervene and visit this country that was largely forgotten by the rest of the world for more than 20 years.

He didn’t just come to remind the world that there was a country named Somalia existed with empty hands, but he came to save us from the danger we were facing at the time by offering us immediate support and all kinds of humanitarian assistance.

From that day onwards our situation never remained the same, it looked like the rest of the world was in deep sleep regarding the issue of Somalia until that decisive moment of his historic visit.

The long road to recovery

After that historic visit, Turkey was among the first foreign administrations to resume formal diplomatic relations with Somalia after the civil war

The President restored all the diplomatic missions to the capital Mogadishu instead of neighboring countries by reinstating the Turkish embassy which was later developed to become the biggest Turkish embassy in the whole of Africa.

Soon after that many countries followed suit and started opening their embassies in Mogadishu which were the early signs of recovery.

The President also offered scholarships to thousands of Somali students who were in desperate need of high-quality education.

He also opened schools both for boys and girls that became one of the few schools offering the IGCSE system in the country.

He built new hospitals and also renovated the famous Digfer hospital to make it one of the best hospitals in East Africa by modernizing it with the latest types of medical equipment and bringing qualified Turkish medical professionals to work in the hospital as well as train their fellow Somali professionals.

The hospital was later renamed Erdogan Hospital to honor the President.

The President also helped in rebuilding and renovating the strategic positions in the country such as the port and the airport.

Connecting us back to the world

The Turkish Airlines became the first long-distance international commercial airline in two decades to resume flights to and from Mogadishu Aden Adde International Airport.

This helped restore Somalia back to the international route and made it easy for more nationals who lived in the diaspora as well as foreigners to come and visit the country in order to provide the help needed and contribute the development required in their own capacity.

A great example is below:

In 2017, when another drought hit the country hard, a French entrepreneur and social media celebrity named Jérôme Jarre started a campaign with a hashtag #LoveArmyForSomalia that was endorsed by other celebrities such as actor Ben Stiller and many other high profile celebrities.

Eventually, they raised enough money to buy medical supplies and 60 tons of food to help those who were affected the most.

But there was something remaining for them to solve. How were they going to deliver? Jérôme searched for international carriers that could deliver. He couldn’t find any except Turkish airlines.

He then made an appeal for them to join the #LoveArmyForSomalia campaign.

In that decisive moment, the Turkish Airlines responded to their call and offered a free cargo flight to support the campaign and deliver it urgently.

Genuine intention

The opening of the TURKSOM which is a military base and a defense university in Mogadishu was another big milestone that the President and his people reached in helping rebuild not only the Somali National Army but the country as a whole.

The military base serves as Turkey’s largest overseas military facility.

These and many more countless contributions and projects in so many various sectors in the country for the last 9 years alone is sufficient proof that the President and his people are genuine about their intention to help Somalia stand back with it is feet.

They are not unlike the so-called “International Community” who are very famous preaching about humanity and do very little about it or nothing in most cases.

In this regard, the President has set a high standard which I believe only very few world leaders can achieve, and the rest can only just dream about it.

Next time when any leader talks about humanity or anything of that sort, just sit back with your arms folded on your chest and say: First do what President Erdogan did, then come lecture me about humanity

Conclusion

Honorable President Erdogan, this message may or may not reach you, but on my behalf, my family and my people, in general, I would like you to know that we will never forget that historic day back in 2011 or any other day you extended us a helping hand for the rest of our lives.

Honestly, there are not enough words to describe how much gratitude we have for you and your people deep in our hearts.

For now, we can only pray for the safety and prosperity of yours and your people.

As it was written in the medical supplies that you sent us with a quote by the famous Islamic poet Jalaluddin Rumi :

“There is hope after despair and many suns after darkness.”

Know that your message is well received. We will never give up.

I sincerely hope one day, we shall be able to repay you back in some way or another.

May Allah reward you in this world and hereafter.

Thank you for spending your precious time to read.