Amidst the festering war in the Middle East, Nigeria is set to immediately deploy 200 Nigerian Special Forces for training in Türkiye.
The deployment of special forces was announced by the Minister of Defence, retired Gen. Christopher Musa, following an agreement reached between the two countries.
Musa disclosed this in an interview on the sidelines of the 5th Antalya Diplomacy Forum (ADF2026) in Antalya, Türkiye, on Saturday, following discussions with his Turkish counterpart, Yasar Guler.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the three-day forum, themed: “Mapping Tomorrow, Managing Uncertainties,” which started on Friday, is attended by world leaders, ministers, and diplomats, among others.
The minister explained that following the agreement, Türkiye had allocated a training quota of 200 personnel from Nigeria’s Special Forces, who will be immediately deployed on his return to Nigeria.
“We have a Special Forces training agreement. Türkiye has agreed to give us 200 Special Forces training, so as soon as I return, we are sending them here for training.
“We will continue to do a lot. There will be exercises. The first exercise is coming up later in the year. So, in so many areas of defence we are going to work together,” he said.
The minister also disclosed that Nigeria and Türkiye had both agreed on joint defence equipment production and the transfer of military technology.
Musa said that Nigeria and Türkiye had come a long way, working together over the years, adding that, “since 1960 Türkiye has been like family to Nigeria.”
According to him, Türkiye has a lot of defence experience from which Nigeria could learn through shared experiences.
“I’ve had a meeting with the Turkish Minister of Defence, where we shared a lot of ideas on how to improve on our relationship, defence-wise.
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“Türkiye has improved dramatically with regard to the production of military hardware.
“Nigeria is still developing, and we have agreed that we are going to partner together so that we have a co-production of some of these items,” he said.
Further justifying the immediate deployment of a team of Nigerian Special Forces to Türkiye , the minister noted that while Nigeria had been fighting asymmetric warfare against insurgency for about 17 years, Türkiye has had a similar experience of fighting against terrorism for 40 years.
He added: “Because of that, we will move into training, production and improving on our defence, industrial production, and exchange of officers and soldiers.”
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