A joint project by Turkish police and a state-run development aid agency will provide counterterrorism training for Kenyan security forces.
The Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TİKA) and National Police are running an International Police Training Cooperation Project for the African country that enjoys close ties with Turkey. The training comes upon the request of Kenyan police, Emre Yüksek, the agency's coordinator in Nairobi says. Police officers will undergo one to three week training sessions. Kenya fights a security threat from al-Shabab terrorist group. The group has stepped up attacks against Kenya in recent years, especially targeting towns bordering with Somalia where al-Shabab rose to prominence with a violent campaign. Kenya and Somalia shares a border longer than 700 kilometers and Yüksek says Kenyan police wanted to tap Turkish experience for improving border security and intelligence work against infiltration through the border and putting intelligence into action. He adds that they also seek technical assistance in terms of crime scene investigation.
The African country is also embattled with cybercrimes as it is among the world's leading countries in the use of mobile money technology. Yüksek says they also discussed with Kenyan authorities on assistance for cybersecurity.
Turkey and Kenya signed a security cooperation agreement in 2014 but it is not ratified yet by the Kenyan parliament. Once it is ratified, it will pave the way for a wider cooperation. The TİKA coordinator says Kenyan cadets will be allowed into the Turkish police academy in the future.
TİKA and the Turkish national police already run training programs in 30 countries. Since 2007, when the program was first started in Albania and Kyrgyzstan, 7,300 police officers underwent Turkish training.
