Turkey and Saudi Arabia are striving to increase all kinds of political, military and economic relations to start a new era, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said early Friday.
"We paid a visit to Saudi Arabia upon the invitation of Hadimu'l Haremeyn," or "the Servant of Mecca and Medina," said Erdoğan, referring to Saudi King Salman.
"As two brotherly countries with historical, cultural and human ties, we are striving to increase all kinds of political, military and economic relations between us and to start a new era," said Erdoğan on Twitter.
Increased cooperation with Saudi Arabia in health, energy, food security, agricultural technologies, the defense industry and finance is in the common interest, said Erdoğan, adding the two countries have serious cooperation potential in renewable and clean energy technologies.
Erdoğan also said that Turkey attaches great importance to the security and stability of the Gulf region.
"We express on every occasion that we attach as much importance to the stability and security of our brothers in the Gulf region as our own," he said.
"We underline that we are against all forms of terrorism and that we attach importance to cooperation with the countries in our region against terrorism," he added.
"I believe we will take our relations to a level beyond what they were previously," said Erdoğan, adding his visit during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan "will open the doors of a new era with our friend and brother Saudi Arabia."
King Salman received President Erdoğan Thursday evening with an official ceremony in the city of Jiddah. The two leaders held a closed-door meeting at Al-Salam Royal Palace.
Erdoğan also met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS). Earlier, the president arrived in Saudi Arabia for a two-day working visit.
Erdoğan and Saudi Arabia's crown prince met to develop relations during the first visit since the 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi drove a wedge between the two regional powers.
The last time Erdoğan visited Saudi Arabia was in 2017, when he tried to mediate a dispute pitting the kingdom and other Gulf countries against Qatar.
Saudi state news agency SPA reported that the pair "reviewed the Saudi-Turkish relations and ways to develop them in all fields."
Erdoğan then visited the Muslim holy city of Mecca to perform an umrah pilgrimage.
Prior to flying from Istanbul to Saudi's second city Jiddah, where some roads were lined with Turkish and Saudi flags, Erdoğan said he hoped "to launch a new era" in bilateral ties.
"My visit (to Saudi Arabia) is the manifestation of our common will to start a new era of cooperation as two brotherly countries," Erdoğan told reporters at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport.
"It is in our common interest to increase our cooperation with Saudi Arabia in fields such as health, energy, food security, agricultural technologies, defense industry, and finance," he said.
Erdoğan also said that Turkey strives to ensure regional peace and resolve problems via dialogue and diplomacy.
"I believe we will boost our ties in every field through our joint efforts," he said, stressing "the potential, especially in renewable and clean energy technologies."
He said regional and international developments will also be on the agenda during his visit. "We express at every occasion that we place as much importance on the stability and security of our brothers in the Gulf region as our own."
Erdoğan also underlined the importance of "dialogue and cooperation" for the security and stability of the entire region as "threats are growing more and more complex."
He also condemned recent drone and missile attacks targeting Saudi Arabia.
The visit comes as the two regional powers seek to mend nearly a decade of broken ties.
Following the 2011 Arab Spring, ideological differences and rival foreign policy objectives directed Ankara and Riyadh to different directions, making them fierce regional rivals.
Turkey’s support for popular movements linked to the Muslim Brotherhood initially spurred the break with Arab regimes that saw the brotherhood’s political vision as a threat. During the process, Turkey and Saudi Arabia supported opposite sides in many regional conflicts.
Later developments, particularly the blockade of Turkish ally Qatar by its Gulf neighbors, reinforced the split. The lifting of the embargo by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Egypt and Bahrain early last year paved the way for reconciliation.
Turkey sided with its main regional ally Qatar amid the embargo imposed by Saudi Arabia, the UAE and two other Arab states. Turkey has since deepened its military ties with Qatar. The Arab quartet at the time demanded a series of reversals by Qatar, including the expulsion of Turkish troops, but Doha rejected the demands, which it saw as violations of its sovereignty. The dispute was resolved last year with an agreement signed in Saudi Arabia.
While Erdoğan and Saudi Arabia's King Salman maintained their contact during the process, the kingdom’s de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) was seen as the face of Riyadh’s foreign policy and its hostility against Ankara.
The killing of columnist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents in Istanbul sent an already tense and shaky relationship between Turkey and Saudi Arabia into complete free fall.
Saudi agents killed and dismembered Khashoggi, an insider turned critic, in the kingdom's Istanbul consulate in October 2018. His remains have never been found.
The gruesome act risked isolating Saudi Arabia, and especially MBS, while escalating Riyadh's regional rivalry with Ankara.
Turkey infuriated the Saudis by pressing ahead with an investigation into the murder of The Washington Post contributing columnist. Erdoğan said the "highest levels" of the Saudi government ordered the killing.
Saudi Arabia responded by unofficially putting pressure on Turkey's economy through a boycott of Turkish imports.
But trade between the two has been gradually improving, and in January Erdoğan said he was planning a visit to Saudi Arabia.
The end of the unofficial Saudi boycott of Turkish goods, which cut Ankara’s exports by 90%, saw trade to Saudi Arabia reach $58 million last month, triple the level for the previous year but a fraction of the $298 million registered in March 2020.
A Saudi court jailed eight people over the killing in September 2020 – a trial described as a sham by rights groups – but Turkey also launched a case in absentia against 26 Saudi suspects.
The April 7 transfer of the case to Saudi Arabia came at the request of the Turkish prosecutor, who said there was no prospect of arresting or taking statements from the defendants.
The decision earlier this month to transfer the prosecution to Saudi Arabia removed the last stumbling block to renewed Turkey-Saudi ties.
Over the past year Ankara has embarked on a diplomatic push to reset relations with regional powers such as Israel, Egypt, the UAE and Saudi Arabia after years of antagonism. Erdoğan had reiterated that Turkey hopes to maximize its cooperation with Israel, Egypt and Gulf nations "on a win-win basis," at a time when Ankara intensified diplomacy to mend its fraught ties with these regional powers after years of tensions.