Somali Senator Labels Turkey 'Resources Pirate'; Calls TPAO Offshore Oil Drilling Agreements Illegal and Lacking Parliament Approval

Senator Professor Abdi Ismail Samatar publicly condemned Turkey's offshore oil drilling operations as illegal on April 17, 2026, alleging the defense and petroleum agreements with TPAO lacked parliamentary approval. Samatar's key statements, published by Somali Guardian: 'Turkish vessels are prospecting and drilling for oil in Somali waters. This is exceptionally alarming as the entire affair is illegal.' — 'The Somali Parliament has yet to see the texts of the two agreements.' — 'This behavior and actions make Türkiye resources pirates.' — 'The Somali people will not forget Türkiye's great deception.' The senator argued Turkey was leveraging its security presence to secure resource extraction agreements with a government approaching the end of its mandate — raising governance legitimacy concerns about contracts binding Somalia's future sovereignty over its offshore resources. Turkey's drillship Çağrı Bey has been drilling since April 10 at the 'Curad-1' well approximately 372 km off Mogadishu, targeting depths of up to 7,500 metres across three blocks totalling approximately 15,000 km² of Somali coastal waters. The TPAO concession was agreed in 2024 without full parliamentary disclosure of the fiscal terms. DW published a major analysis on April 16 asking 'Why is Somalia allowing Turkey to tap its oil reserves?' questioning the deal's terms for Somalia.