Obscure Turkish APC displayed at Somali graduation ceremony

Somali personnel graduating from the Turksom training facility on 3 July. The Nurol Ejder 6×6 APC can be seen in the background. (Ministry of Defence of Somalia)

An Ejder armoured personnel carrier (APC) made by Turkish company Nurol Makina was seen in Somalia for the first time when it was displayed at a graduation event at the Turkish training facility (Turksom) in Mogadishu on 3 July.

Television coverage of the event showed the Ejder with a Somali flag on it parked next to a BMC Kirpi II with a Turkish flag on it.

Not to be confused with Nurol's Ejder Yalçın, a 4×4 armoured vehicle that is now in service with several military and security forces, the Ejder is an earlier 6×6 APC that was only produced for one customer.

When the Ejder was officially unveiled in February 2009, Nurol said it was an 18 tonne amphibious APC that could carry 12 people. It said that more than 50 Ejders had already been exported, and the vehicle would be submitted for a Turkish Armed Forces requirement for 336 special-purpose 6×6 tactical vehicles.

Georgia was subsequently identified as the Ejder customer, with Nurol saying the Caucasian country bought 70 when it announced that the vehicle participated in trials for a new APC to equip Kuwait's land forces and emiri guard in September 2011. The vehicle used for the Kuwaiti trials was fitted with a one-man turret armed with a 25 mm gun, unlike the ones sold to Georgia.

No further orders were forthcoming, and the product was seemingly dropped after the launch of the original version of the Ejder Yalçın in 2013.