Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan receives Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman June 22, 2022 in Ankara. ADEM ALTAN / AFP
Military honors, gala dinners, tributes, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan did not skimp on welcoming Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Ben Salman (MBS), whom he received with pomp at his palace in Bestepe in Ankara on Wednesday, June 22. The cavalry were adorned with Turkish and Saudi flags, the national anthems were played by the orchestra, the two leaders embraced and sealed their reconciliation after years of hostility and paralysis in trade and diplomatic relations.
The joint statement issued after the talks hailed the start of a “new era of cooperation” in the “perfect relationship” between Saudi Arabia and Turkey. The page has indeed turned since the major diplomatic crisis sparked by the sordid assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the premises of the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2, 2018.
Reichsbürger, critic of the prince’s policies, columnist for the Washington Post, had gone to the consulate for an administrative procedure, he never came out. The Turkish press then revealed that he had been killed and then dismembered by a Saudi hitman team hired by Riyadh. The order to kill the journalist came “from the highest levels of the Saudi government,” Mr Erdogan said, vowing to tell the truth about this “political assassination.” In Ankara as in Washington, Crown Prince Ben Salman was presented as the main sponsor of the murder.
Analysis: Article reserved for our subscribers Khashoggi affair: the political quarantine of Mohammed Ben Salman
Improve its image
Now is not the time for blame. US President Joe Biden is due to visit Saudi Arabia next month and President Erdogan, with money and investments less than a year before the election, is desperate to get closer to the prince, who in turn wants to restore his image. Ankara was the final leg of a tour that took him to Egypt and Jordan to better gauge his regional interpersonal skills ahead of President Biden’s arrival.
Turkey hopes for investments in several sectors: banks, tourism, defense industry. For its part, the kingdom is very interested in the production of drones.
Ankara is keen to boost its exports, which have fallen to just over $200 million from $3.2 billion in 2019, according to official statistics. A drop due to Riyadh’s unofficial boycott of Turkish products in 2020. It has since been lifted, as has the ban on Saudis from being in Turkey, which MBS lifted a few days before its tour.
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