President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has received his Somali counterpart President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud in Istanbul, Turkish diplomatic sources said Friday.
The pair discussed bilateral relations and international developments at a closed-door meeting.
They were accompanied by Turkish National Defense Minister Yaşar Güler, Industry and Technology Minister Mehmet Fatih Kacır and the Somali delegation, sources said.
The raging conflict between Israel and Hamas and the unfolding humanitarian crisis in Gaza were expected to be on the agenda of the leaders as the Somalian capital Mogadishu has been the scene of large protests to support Palestinians, similar to Türkiye.
Somalia is enjoying a close economic, diplomatic and military friendship with Türkiye that has been growing since Erdoğan visited Somalia in 2011.
Since then, Türkiye has built an 80,000-square-meter (861,112-square-foot) embassy in Mogadishu, which is its biggest embassy in Africa.
