RIYADH: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrived in Riyadh on Tuesday, Saudi media said, his first visit in more than two years as Saudi Arabia moves closer to its rival-turned-ally.
Ties between Turkiye and Saudi Arabia have steadily recovered in recent years, with the countries cooperating on a range of diplomatic issues.
This includes support for Gaza and backing Syria’s new government in the wake of the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad in 2024.
Erdogan is set to meet Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during the visit – his first to the kingdom since July 2023, which was part of a Gulf trip aimed at drumming up investments.
There was no official indication of what the two sides would discuss.
READ MORE: Turkiye seeks entry into Pakistan–Saudi defence pact: report
But Turkish state-run news agency Anadolu reported that they would discuss the “deepening cooperation” between the countries, as well as regional and global developments.
It added that Erdogan would then travel to Cairo on Wednesday.
The visit comes days after two sources told AFP that Turkiye would not be joining a mutual defence pact between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan had said earlier this month that they had entered talks aimed at joining the alliance.
But experts like Umar Karim of the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom warn that Turkiye will have to balance any thaw with Riyadh against relations with other regional rivals.
“I think its in this visit that it will become clear what Turkiye can commit to Saudis in terms of this rivalry with UAE and in terms of the security threat from Israel,” Karim told AFP.
“Based on what Turkiye can and cannot deliver there will be this trilateral agreement,” he said
“Because Turkish elites have financial interests in Dubai and the UAE is playing an important role in stabilising the Turkish economy, they cannot afford to go openly against it.”
Relations between Riyadh and Turkiye were enormously strained after Saudi agents murdered Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October 2018.
Turkiye angered Saudi Arabia by vigorously pursuing the case at the time, opening an investigation and briefing international media about the lurid details of the murder.
Relations soured further following a Saudi-led blockade of Turkish ally Qatar by its Gulf Arab neighbours. The embargo was lifted in 2021 but ties with Turkiye remained rocky.
The meeting in Riyadh comes days ahead of a potential round of talks in Turkiye between the United States and Iran on February 6, an Arab official told AFP early Tuesday, after Tehran called for the restart of nuclear talks and Washington warned of consequences if a deal was not reached.
Erdogan has emerged as one of the key mediators leading a diplomatic push to find a resolution between the long-time foes to head off open conflict between the two sides.
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