Will Bin Salman forgive Turkish President Erdogan?

    Erdogan decided to give a bow to Riyadh on his own
    access_time30 Apr 2022
    print 30 4 2022
     

    Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is on a two-day visit to Saudi Arabia. His previous visit to this country took place in July 2017. Back then he met in Jeddah with the King and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

    Then there was a cooling between Ankara and Riyadh. Erdogan got into the story with the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul in October 2018. Khashoggi's cousin Dodi al-Fayed was the boyfriend of Princess Diana and died with her in a car accident in 1997. Jamal's uncle Adnan Khashoggi is a famous arms dealer and was in the same case with Imelda Marcos on charges of racketeering and fraud.

    As a journalist, Jamal Khashoggi became famous after an interview with Osama bin Laden, who personally invited him to Afghanistan. The Washington Post called Khashoggi "an outstanding critic of the Saudi government and Prince Bin Salman in particular”, and pointed out that "the ears of British intelligence are sticking out behind this story."

    Back then Erdogan supported the American version, according to which the Crown Prince was personally involved in this action. The whole world learnt about this thanks to the Turkish equipment, which was placed in advance in the building of the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. After that, the Turkish media methodically promoted the scandal, thereby discrediting Bin Salman.

    That is, Erdogan tried to get into the Saudi royal family, which today has about 25,000 people united in eight clans, in order to prevent the crown prince from strengthening. The Turkish president then positioned himself as the most influential leader of the Middle East, able to delegate control and management of the region to anyone. But he miscalculated.

    Bin Salman managed to keep his throne. Riyadh accused Ankara of attempts to politicise and internationalise the criminal case, the crisis between Turkey and Saudi Arabia became stagnant, almost reaching a complete rupture. Riyadh has announced a boycott of Turkish goods. According to the main statistical office of Saudi Arabia, Turkey dropped from 11th place in December 2019 in terms of imports to the kingdom to 58th in 2020 and the decline continued.

    In addition, a geopolitical conflict flared up between Saudi Arabia and Turkey. Both countries are contenders for regional leadership. But if in previous years they competed in peripheral countries (Syria, Libya, Egypt), then Ankara began to expand into the sphere of exclusive interests of Saudi Arabia the Gulf countries. Turkey concluded an agreement with the Qatari emir, under which Turkish food, goods and troops were sent to Qatar.

    However, Erdogan did not have enough resources to continue such a belligerent policy, and problems began. The lira has gone into a nosedive, inflation has started to go off the scale in annual terms, serious foreign policy crises have appeared that require Turkish attention and spending (Ukraine, Iran, a new alignment in Europe, and so on). The struggle for leadership in the region, which Ankara has begun to lose, will sharply escalate.

    Earlier, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu hinted that the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia is expected in Turkey. But in the end, Erdogan decided to give a bow to Riyadh on his own. He does not hide that he needs Saudi money and the market, stating that his current visit to Saudi Arabia "is the beginning of a new period in relations between Ankara and Riyadh." Earlier, Ankara handed over the court case on Khashoggi's murder to Saudi Arabia.

    Of course, this is a sign of a "thaw" in relations between the two countries. But in the East, serious political grievances are still not forgiven so quickly.

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