A Somali politician donated his salary to the recent fundraising campaign launched by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.
Abdulkadir Mohamed Nur, senior advisor to the speaker of the House of the People of Somalia, donated one month's worth of his salary to the campaign, saying that he made the donation because Turkey has always stood beside the oppressed.
"Turkey does not only look after itself but to all oppressed people. The Turkish people have always been Somali people’s foul-weather friend and now it is time to stand beside the Turkish people," Nur said on his Twitter account.
Twitter users flooded Nur’s post with messages of gratitude, as many of them praised the solidarity among the two countries.
Nur previously served as an undersecretary at the Somali Federal Republic Embassy in Turkey
Erdoğan on Monday announced a nationwide fundraising campaign to help citizens financially affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
Announcing the "We are self-sufficient, Turkey" campaign, Erdoğan said he was donating seven months of his salary as a way to kick-start the fundraiser and added that several ministers have already joined as well.
Turkey, under the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government, launched a continental initiative to reach out to African countries whose relations with Turkey have been mostly limited since the early years of the republic’s foundation.
Turkey's vast aid effort at the height of the 2011 famine helped many Somali people, and it has continued to pour in aid, much of it from private companies.
It has built schools, hospitals and infrastructure as well as providing Somalis with scholarships to study in Turkey. Erdoğan has visited Mogadishu twice since his visit to the war-ravaged country in 2011. He was the first non-African leader to visit the war-ravaged country in 20 years.
Turkey's official humanitarian institutions, such as TİKA, the Turkish Red Crescent Kızılay and Diyanet Foundation along with civil initiatives such as the Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH) and Helping Hands, have implemented many development aid projects relating to infrastructure, education, health and related fields. For instance, TİKA financed projects in Mogadishu that included rehabilitating the Digfer Hospital, constructing 33 kilometers (20.5 miles) of roads and building the Somalian Statehouse.