By Merve Yildizalp and Alper Sasmaz
ISTANBUL (AA) — Türkiye's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in remarks aired Sunday he will visit Ethiopia and Somalia in the first two months of next year.
On the heels of a landmark accord, brokered by Türkiye, that ended nearly a year of tensions between the two African nations on maritime access to the Red Sea, Erdogan said on Saturday that the breakthrough came after "a meeting that lasted seven hours."
"Thanks to their cooperation, we signed (the deal) and we finished the job," Erdogan said at an event with young people in the eastern province of Erzurum.
"We went to our press conference room and announced it to the world. I told them, 'God willing, I will visit Ethiopia and Somalia in the first two months of next year and we will announce this step we have taken to the world'," added the Turkish president.
After meeting with Erdogan in the Turkish capital Ankara on Wednesday, the leaders of Somalia and Ethiopia in a joint statement called the Ankara Declaration "reaffirmed their respect and commitment to one another’s sovereignty, unity, independence and territorial integrity."
Upon a question about Turkiye's role in the signing of the declaration, Erdogan explained that Ankara's strong relations with both sides had allowed it to make progress with mediation efforts where others could not.
"This problem between Somalia and Ethiopia has been going on for many years. Ethiopia is a huge place, twice the size of Somalia, but it is landlocked," he said.
"The fact that a place with such a large and gigantic land is landlocked seriously disturbs them. Many countries have been involved in this issue until today, but they have not been able to solve this issue," he added.
Noting his "special rapport" with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, Erdogan said this had allowed them to discuss the dispute, which escalated in January, when Ethiopia signed a deal with Somalia’s breakaway region of Somaliland to use the Red Sea port of Berbera.
Türkiye has also been a country that "embraced Somalia in its most critical period," supporting the country as it faced attacks by terrorist organizations. "We made investments there. Along with those investments, we also took steps against terrorist organizations in Somalia."
Erdogan said Ankara also provided Ethiopia "all the support we could in the economy, in defense."
Expressing pride in the Ankara Declaration, Erdogan said, "This is how we announced a beautiful future to Africa, we announced it to the whole world."
"When we are sincere, when our intentions are good, everything can happen," he added.
*Writing by Efe Ozkan