Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman is visiting Ankara a year after dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s murder. President Erdogan, who once accused him of murdering Khashoggi, is now eager to repair Turkish ties with Saudi Arabia
Prince Mohammed bin Salman is currently in Ankara ending years of international isolation after Jamal Khashoggi’s murder. He has also visited Cairo and Jordan before. Previously, French President Emmanuel Macron visited Riyadh last December and Boris Johnson visited in March to talk about increasing oil output. US President Joe Biden may visit Riyadh too. Last week Erdoğan said that crown prince Mohammed bin Salman would visit him.
“ God willing, we will have the opportunity to assess to what higher level we can take Turkey-Saudi Arabia relations”, he said.
A grand procession and a band welcomed the crown prince as he landed in the Turkish capital. Soon President Erdoğan met him and both shook their hands. The duo then disappeared to the presidential palace for talks. Turkey is supposed to get trade deals and investments from Mohammed bin Salman’s visit.
Saudi-Turkish Relations So far.
Relations between Saudi Arabia and Turkey had worsened after Jamal Khashoggi’s assassination. Khashoggi, a US based Washington Post columnist, was murdered inside the Saudi embassy in Istanbul. He was also a fervent critic of the Saudi government. A UN investigation soon concluded that a team of 15 Saudi agents from Riyadh had murdered Khashoggi.
After Khashoggi’s death, US intelligence concluded that prince Mohammed bin Salman had ordered his murder. The Saudi government initially denied any role ,but later acknowledged that top government officials were behind the assassination. The crown prince didn’t order the execution, it said. A year later, a Saudi court convicted 5 unidentified men for the murder and jailed 3 others for covering it.
Erdoğan, however, didn’t accuse the crown prince of ordering the killings.The order to kill Khashoggi came from “ the highest levels of the Saudi government” , he said. Joe Biden, While President Donald Trump sought to normalize US-Saudi relations, the murder ruined them.Joe Biden, on the other hand, campaigned to make Saudi Arabia a “pariah” over Khashoggi’s murder. Two years later, both Turkey and the west are changing their stance towards Saudi Arabia.
Why the Change in Stance?
Erdogan’s altered stance is in tune with a wider Turkish foreign policy reset to relations with Israel, UAE and Saudi Arabia. Turkey’s economic crisis and the 45% devaluation of the Lira also precipitated the move. Erdogan’s altered stance is in tune with a wider Turkish foreign policy reset to relations with Israel, UAE and Saudi Arabia. Turkey’s economic crisis and the 45% devaluation of the Lira also precipitated the move. UAE has created a $10 billion fund to invest in Turkey. Both countries even announced a $5 billion currency swap to bolster reserves in Ankara’s central bank.
On the other hand, US and western dependency on Saudi oil has increased after a European embargo on Russian oil. Petrol prices have skyrocketed in the US following the Ukraine war and a fall in Russian oil production. This has driven up costs everywhere. Since Saudi Arabia has set quotas on oil production, Biden wants them to relax some of them to ease the prices.
Meanwhile, Turkish prosecutors have anulled trials against 26 Saudi agents. Saudi Arabia will try these agents instead . Mohammed bin Salman has sought Erdoğan’s promise to refrain from mentioning Khashoggi’s death , Turkish officials say. Erdoğan would also tell the Turkish media to stop raising the topic, they concede. Turkey had previously supported political change from below during the Arab Spring, it has now accepted the longevity of Gulf monarchies.
Critics decry Turkish and Western Attitudes
While Erdoğan and Biden seem to have changed their policy on Saudi Arabia, critics still hold their ground. Khashoggi’s fiancée, Hatice Cengiz has condemned the decision.
“The political legitimacy he (Mohammed bin Salman) earns doesn’t change the fact that he’s a murderer” she tweeted.
Kemal Kilicdaroglu, leader of Turkey’s main opposition party, the Republican People’s Party( CHP) has also criticized the move. Even Agnès Callamard, the head of Amnesty International has criticized Biden’s impending visit to Riyadh.
“We can learn from the past that MBS is not a reliable partner, so what are we doing here? A reliable partner does not kill one of their journalists in a foreign country, or use surveillance technology worldwide. A reliable partner does not keep on bombing Yemen for no reason. That is not a reliable partner,” she said.
(Inputs, BBC, the Guardian, Wall Street Journal)
