President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has exchanged greetings with world leaders on the occasion of Ramadan Bayram (Eid al-Fitr).

In separate phone calls with Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, and Chairman of the House of Peoples of Bosnia-Herzegovina Bakir Izetbegovic, Erdoğan acknowledged the importance of the Islamic holiday.

President Erdoğan and King Salman exchanged greetings for bayram and discussed regional developments and bilateral relations, Turkish Presidency said Thursday.

The Saudi king thanked Erdoğan for Turkey's efforts during its term presidency in Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

The phone call comes after Erdoğan was notably absent from the Mecca summit of the OIC where the country was represented instead by Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu.

Turkey's ties with Saudi Arabia have come under strain after the brutal murder last October of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, which tarnished the international reputation of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Saudi prosecutors have absolved the prince and said around two dozen people implicated in the murder are in custody, with death penalties sought against five men.

But attention has remained focused on whether the crown prince ordered the murder, despite the kingdom's denials.

Erdoğan also congratulated Wednesday his South African counterpart Cyril Ramaphosa on his re-election as president.

Ruling African National Congress (ANC) leader Ramaphosa, 66, a former anti-apartheid activist and trade union leader, was sworn in Saturday as the country's sixth democratically elected president.

He pledged to revitalize the nation's stagnating economy, create jobs and rid the country of widespread corruption.

He has also named a new Cabinet, with half the ministries going to women.

"For the first time in the history of our country, half of all ministers are women," he said in a televised address to the nation last month.

Ramaphosa said he reduced the number of ministers to 28 from 36 by combining a number of posts in a bid to cut spending and promote greater coherence, better coordination and improved efficiency.