Türkiye’s deputy foreign minister is set to meet his counterparts from Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Kuwait for talks in Riyadh and Kuwait this week, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said Monday.
Deputy Foreign Minister Burak Akçapar "will be visiting Riyadh on April 10, 2023, to hold political consultations upon the invitation of Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia His Excellency Ambassador Waleed Al-Khereiji," the ministry informed.
A meeting will be held with Yemen's undersecretary for political affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Mansour Baggash, and another with Secretary General of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC) His Excellency, Jassem Mohamed Al-Budaiwi, the ministry added.
Separately, Akçapar "will be paying a visit to Kuwait on April 10-11 for political consultations, upon the invitation of Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the State of Kuwait His Excellency Mansour Ayyad Alotaibi."
Bilateral relations as well as regional and global issues will be the topic of discussion, according to the ministry.
The meetings are a part of Ankara’s efforts to mend ties with regional powers, especially with Saudi Arabia, following years of tension that broke out with the 2017 Gulf crisis and only escalated after the 2018 murder of dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Saudi Arabia’s Istanbul Consulate.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s visit to Saudi Arabia in April last year marked the first high-level visit in years. His trip was followed by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s trip to Türkiye in June.
The two leaders also met in November on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Indonesia as trade improved and Türkiye’s exports to the Gulf nations surged to a record high in the first two months of 2023.
Riyadh was also one of the first nations to dispatch rescue workers, relief materials, temporary homes and aid worth $96 million (TL 1.85 billion) for victims of Türkiye’s Feb. 6 earthquakes that left over 50,000 dead.
Türkiye further enjoys extensive cooperation in regional issues, defense, military, culture and education with Kuwait, which has acted as a mediator in regional affairs, especially in the normalization of relations between Gulf countries.
With war-torn Yemen, Ankara has backed U.N. efforts for a solution to the violence that engulfed the country since 2014, when Iranian-aligned Houthi rebels captured much of the country, including the capital Sanaa, and consistently supported Yemen in education, construction, capacity-building and humanitarian assistance.
The Houthis remain in control of the capital, as well as wide swathes of territory, despite a military campaign conducted by Saudi Arabia and its Gulf Arab allies since 2015 aimed at ousting them and restoring the Yemeni government.
The tension between Saudi Arabia and Iran has been straining in the meantime. Riyadh accuses Tehran of supplying the Houthis with weapons and attempting to destabilize countries in the Arabian Gulf.
Yemen plays a significant role for Saudi Arabia against Iran's influence over the violence-hit Middle East region. The advance of the Iranian-allied Shiite Houthi group raises fears of the possible disintegration of the country.
Since the Gulf crisis, Türkiye has played a major role in helping the region’s powers navigate through various sanctions and embargos, as well as in mediating a truce. Normalization in the Gulf and its influence would highlight Ankara as a strategic partner and help establish dialogue channels with all states in a way that would contribute to the solution of various regional problems.