President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan received Saudi Arabia’s Consultative Council Chairperson Abdullah ibn Muhammad Al ash-Sheikh in Ankara, the presidential office announced Monday.
Erdoğan and Al ash-Sheikh held a meeting closed to the press, the president’s office said, giving no further information about their talk.
Türkiye’s Parliament Speaker Mustafa Şentop also accompanied the two after sitting for a one-on-one meeting with Al ash-Sheikh himself earlier in the day.
Speaking to reporters after their meeting, as well as talks between Turkish and Saudi committees, Şentop emphasized the growing collaboration between his country and the Gulf nation.
“The close cooperation between Türkiye and Saudi Arabia across the Middle East and Northern Africa is greatly beneficial for our region,” Şentop contended. “Mutual visits and talks help strengthen bilateral relations and enhance collaboration while political meetings work to bolster economic and commercial ties.”
He went on to argue that Riyadh’s candidacy to host the World Expo 2030 was a “significant step” for the whole region and reiterated Türkiye’s support of the country’s bid.
The Turkish diplomat emphasized the importance Ankara lends to the security and stability of all Gulf nations, saying: “We hope a positive atmosphere reigns in the entire region through joint efforts. Therefore, we attach great importance to regional economic integration and the development of infrastructure in the area.”
He stressed that close cooperation between the two countries across “a vast area stretching from Palestine to Yemen, Libya to Syria” was thus “vital” for the entire region.
The parliamentary speaker also remarked on the international recognition of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) and echoed Erdoğan’s call to the international community at the U.N. General Assembly for the recognition of the island nation. “It’s important to increase contact with Turkish Cypriots who have been subjected to unjust isolation and embargos for years,” he said.
He highlighted Türkiye’s decadeslong war on terrorist organizations, noting how attacks from northern Syria and Iraq “still continue.”
“We of course completely respect the territorial integrity of Iraq and Syria,” Şentop said. “Our only trouble is to foil terrorist attacks from these countries due to internal instability and prevent western plots to change the borders of the region’s countries by, again, stoking that instability for their own imperialist interests,” he concluded.
Al ash-Sheikh’s visit is the latest in a flurry of diplomacy traffic Türkiye and Saudi Arabia have been enjoying recently as they seek to mend a nearly decade of broken ties.
Following the 2011 Arab Spring, ideological differences and rival foreign policy objectives directed Ankara and Riyadh in different directions, making them fierce regional rivals.
Türkiye’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, Türkiye and Saudi Arabia supported opposite sides in many regional conflicts.
Bilateral relations, however, took an especially rough dive in 2018 after the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents at the kingdom's Istanbul consulate. Türkiye infuriated the Saudis by pressing ahead with an investigation into the murder of the columnist. Erdoğan said the "highest levels" of the Saudi government ordered the killing.
Saudi Arabia responded by unofficially putting pressure on Türkiye's economy through a boycott of Turkish imports.
But trade between the two has been gradually improving; Ankara and Riyadh have been striving to repair ties and enhance political, military, and economic relations in all respects. Their efforts contributed to a boom in bilateral trade as Türkiye’s exports to the country jumped by 180% in 2022.
Over the past year, Ankara has embarked on a diplomatic push to reset relations with the Gulf nation, with Erdoğan paying a visit to the kingdom in April. His trip marked the first high-level visit in years, which the Turkish leader said would “herald a new era” in their bilateral ties and “demonstrate our common will to enhance ties on the basis of mutual respect and trust.”
Erdoğan’s visit was followed by Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s (MBS) trip to Türkiye in June as part of efforts to thaw the ice and advance the normalization process.
Most recently, the two leaders shook hands at a reception held before the World Cup opening ceremony in the Qatari capital Doha on Nov. 20.
