Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrived Thursday in Saudi Arabia for his first official visit since 2017. Erdogan and his wife Emine were greeted at the airport by Mecca Emir Khaled al-Faisal, the Turkish president's office said.
This is Erdogan's first visit to the kingdom since July 2017, when he met with the king and crown prince in Jeddah. As Al-Ain notes, the Turkish leader's trip can be seen as a turning point in relations between the two influential states in the region, which have been extremely tense in recent years. A number of experts to whom the article refers believe that in recent months Ankara has taken a number of steps to "zero problems" with the Arab countries, taking a course towards rapprochement, especially with the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
Erdogan himself called his visit to Saudi Arabia the beginning of a new period in relations between Ankara and Riyadh. "We are making sincere efforts to establish peace in our region and end conflicts. We will try to start a new era in our relations in terms of expanding political, military and cultural ties between us. The complementary structure of our economies is one of the main things that attracts Saudi investors to our country," the Turkish president told reporters before flying to Jeddah.
Resetting relations
Since the last meetings until now, Saudi-Turkish relations have experienced a serious cooling, almost reaching a complete breakdown. They were significantly negatively affected by the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Consulate General in Istanbul in early October 2018. Riyadh accused Ankara of sweating the politicization and internationalization of the criminal case, and from 2018 to 2020, the crisis between Turkey and Saudi Arabia was stagnant, with both countries remaining in their positions.
This situation negatively affected the economic relations of the two states and severely affected the balance of trade. According to Saudi Arabia's chief statistical office, Turkey fell from ranking 11th in December 2019 for imports into the kingdom to 58th in 2020, and the decline continued. In early 2021, however, Turkey's polemics began to change, especially in the Khashoggi case.
Last month, Erdogan said his country was continuing a "positive discussion" with Riyadh and was ready to take concrete steps to improve relations. As a result, on April 7, the Turkish Ministry of Justice announced its decision to halt the trial and formally transfer the case of the journalist's murder to the Saudi judiciary, effectively ending the long-running dossier.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: official website of the President of the Russian Federation
Based on materials from TASS