3 yıl önce

Turkiye's Erdogan to visit Saudi Arabia in February

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's planned visit comes as part of Ankara's intention to normalise ties with several regional countries.

Reuters

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in April and May discussed bilateral relations with the Saudi King Salman.

Turkiye's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will visit Saudi Arabia in February as part of Ankara's intention to normalise ties with several regional countries.

Erdogan made the announcement in Istanbul on Monday, saying trade between Turkiye and Saudi Arabia will be discussed during his next month's visit, local media reported.

Like Ankara, Riyadh has also been attempting to repair its diplomatic ties with Turkiye following the murder of dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Saudi Arabia’s Istanbul Consulate in 2018.

Erdogan and Saudi King Salman had discussed bilateral relations in April and May in 2021. Following the development, Turkiye said Ankara hoped to maximize its cooperation with the Gulf countries.

Aside from Saudi Arabia, Turkiye has also been in negotiations with Egypt and the United Arab Emirates in an attempt to mend fraught ties.

In May, Ankara sent a delegation led by Foreign Minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu to Saudi Arabia for talks and the foreign minister met his counterpart, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, in Riyadh.

Although the kingdom never publicly acknowledged that it was boycotting Turkiye-made products, some Saudi businessmen endorsed the move amid growing political tensions between the two countries.

To circumvent the unofficial blockade, some Turkish exporters have been rerouting food, clothing and other goods.

SOURCE: TRT World