Turkey as an emerging global humanitarian and peacebuilding actor

Since the end of the Cold War, Turkey has been trying to regain its former influence in a wide spectrum of geographies from Central Asia to the Balkans and Middle East. With that wider international relations interest in mind, Turkey has now become an important actor in international humanitarian and development efforts as a generous donor for disaster response and peacebuilding efforts, especially in Africa. Within this overall context, this chapter investigates Turkey’s aid engagement with a particular reference to Somalia, questioning what drives Turkey’s interest in becoming an active humanitarian actor and where it brings anything unique and different in responding to such challenges. To what extent do for instance, the Islamic position and regional aspirations of the Erdogan government play a role in Turkey’s humanitarian policies and activities? The chapter concludes that Turkey’s humanitarian role across the world is likely to continue and it has been proving to be a successful foreign policy tool for the country.