Turkey OKs force deployment extension in Gulf of Aden

ANKARA

Turkey's parliament on Tuesday approved an extension of Turkish forces serving in the Gulf of Aden, Somalia, and the Arabian Sea.

It ratified a motion extending the authorization of the deployment until Feb. 10, 2022.

Since it was first approved by parliament in 2008, the motion for the deployment has been extended 13 times.

The Gulf of Aden, near Yemen and close to the Bab el-Mandab Strait, the world's fourth-biggest chokepoint for oil transit, is a strategic energy route for Mideast crude oil.

The Arabian Sea and the Horn of Africa country of Somalia is adjacent to the gulf and the strait.