Erdogan in Saudi Arabia: the beginning of a new era or a political manoeuvre?

Erdogan in Saudi Arabia: the beginning of a new era or a political manoeuvre?
May 1, 2022, 5:28 pm

Zara Saleh1

A month before his current visit to Saudi Arabia, the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had transferred the file of the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi to Saudi Arabia. Furthermore, the Turkish court withdrew the file that accused the Saudi officials of the murder of the US-Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Turkey in 2018.

During his trip to Riyadh, the Turkish President expressed the importance of cooperation between Turkey and Saudi Arabia to "tackle the terrorism" and he said the stability and security of our brothers in the Gulf region as our own”. In contrast, Turkish President Erdogan has escalated the tension with Saudi Arabia in 2018 and he indirectly accused the Saudi leader of murdering the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. As a result, Saudi Arabia had to freeze its ties with Turkey, and also due to the Turkish support of the Muslim Brotherhood movement which has been listed as a terrorist group according to Saudi Arabia's officials.

Following his trip to Saudi Arabia simultaneously with dropping the file of Khashoggi as a step of reconciliation, the Turkish President Erdogan is seeking to improve his relations with Saudi Arabia as turkey is facing economic and political crisis at the same time. Turkey's economy is still in tense with the dramatical fall of the value of Turkish lira and inflation, and Erdogan expects Saudi Arabia could boost Turkey's economy as it has been pushed by other regional countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Israel and Qatar. Besides that, the Turkish President Erdogan who is considered as supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood and a representative of the political Islamic movement, is facing parliamentary and presidential elections next year that might end his era of dictatorship in Turkey.

On the other hand, regarding the regional presence and in the Arab and Islamic world, Erdogan has failed to replace Saudi Arabia’s Kingdom of leading the Sunni and Islamic countries. By his visit, Erdogan is trying to use again the "historical moment" regarding Saudi Arabia-Iran tension due Iran's proxy sectarian wars in Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon. Simultaneously, for Saudi Arabia, Iran still seen as an enemy and now could be as a common enemy for both of the Sunni countries. Moreover, Riyadh is hoping that Turkey can play an important role in Yemen's war as they have a strong tie with Tehran. As a result, Turkey also can join the Saudi regional front that includes Egypt and Israel as a part of Saudi foreign strategy to find a solution with Houthis in Yemen who is backing by Iran and its Shia affiliated militias.

Despite the fact that Turkey and Saudi Arabia are both Sunni countries but their relation during Erdogan's leadership never been based on that point, they have some political differences in various aspects. Also, due to Erdogan's policy of intervention in regional countries, such relations between Saudi Arabia and Turkey could be a tactical for now because of distrust from Saudi side.