(Riyadh) Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman discussed “ways to develop” relations between their two countries in Jeddah on Thursday, Saudi state news agency SPA reported.
Updated yesterday at 8:14 p.m.
Mr Erdogan arrived in Saudi Arabia on Thursday for his first visit to the country since the grisly assassination in Istanbul of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018, a case that had chilled ties between the two rival regional powers.
MM. ben Salman and Erdogan “reviewed Turkish-Saudi relations and the means to develop them in all areas”, underlined the SPA agency, after the meeting between the two men.
The visit of Mr. Erdogan, who also met King Salman, comes at a time when Turkey is facing a serious economic crisis: the Turkish lira has seen its value melt by 44% against the dollar in 2021, sending inflation at 61.1% year on year in March.
This situation has prompted the Turkish head of state to soften his ties with former rivals, such as Egypt and Israel, and especially the oil-rich Gulf monarchies, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Before leaving Istanbul, Erdogan said he hoped the visit would “open a new era” in Turkish-Saudi relations.
“Enhancing cooperation in the areas of defense and finance is in our mutual interest,” he added.
Khashoggi case returned
A Turkish official told AFP on condition of anonymity that President Erdogan should not make an official announcement during this visit closed to the press.
The Khashoggi affair had cooled relations between the two countries, already tense since 2017 and the blockade decreed by Saudi Arabia of Qatar, an ally of Ankara.
Jamal Khashoggi, a critical columnist at the Washington Post, was killed and dismembered on October 2, 2018 at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul when he came to collect the papers necessary for his marriage to his Turkish fiancée.
At the time, the Turkish president accused the “highest levels of the Saudi government” of ordering the assassination.
The CIA, the US Senate and a UN expert believe that the Saudi crown prince was “responsible” for the murder. The journalist’s body was never found.
In July 2020, the trial of 26 Saudi nationals, including two relatives of Mohammed bin Salman, accused by Turkey of having assassinated Jamal Khashoggi opened in Istanbul, in the absence of the interested parties. Five were sentenced to death, since commuted, and eight accused to terms of between seven and 20 years in prison.
But in early April, Turkish justice finally decided to get rid of the Khashoggi case by sending it back to the Saudi authorities.
Regional warming
Erdogan’s visit is seen as a victory by Saudi officials eager to turn the page, according to Saudi political analyst Ali Shihabi.
“Mr. Erdogan has been isolated and has paid a high economic price,” he told AFP. Turkish president “needs Saudi Arabia’s trade and tourism flows”
For its part, Riyadh seeks to have it “by its side” on a number of regional issues and could even “buy arms from Turkey”.
Mr. Erdogan’s last visit to Saudi Arabia dates back to 2017, when President Truce tried to mediate in the diplomatic conflict between several Gulf countries and Turkey’s ally Qatar.
After the reconciliation between the Gulf States last year, various diplomatic rapprochements have taken place in the region in a post-pandemic context.
In February, the Turkish head of state made his first official visit to the United Arab Emirates, a few months after that in Ankara of the crown prince of Abu Dhabi, Mohammed bin Zayed, the two countries having shown their desire to strengthen economic ties .
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in power for nineteen years as prime minister and then as president, hopes to be re-elected in the next presidential election, scheduled for June 2023.