Riyadh, Islam and investments: Erdogan 'archives' the Khashoggi murder
The Turkish president on official visit to Saudi Arabia to mend fences with the Wahhabi leadership and bin Salman. In pilgrim's clothing he crossed the threshold of the sacred mosque in Mecca. Riyadh's money crucial to boosting the domestic economy. An unofficial boycott in force since 2020 has cut Turkish imports by 98%.
Riyadh (AsiaNews) - Mending relations with Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman (Mbs), at an all-time low after the murder of Saudi journalist and dissident Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul in 2018; sealing deals and strengthening trade partnerships, to boost the domestic economy; visiting Mecca and propagating the image of a pilgrim (and leader) in the Muslim world.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's official visit to Saudi Arabia, at least according to Ankara, is intended to mark a turning point and put to rest the tensions of recent years between the two Muslim nations. The summit was facilitated by the decision of the Turkish judiciary at the beginning of the month to suspend the trial in absentia against 26 Saudi defendants, transferring the file to Riyadh and raising not a few criticisms within the international community.
A proponent in recent years of a policy of nationalism and Islam, Erdogan included in the two-day Saudi tour (28 and 29 April) a visit to the sacred mosque of Mecca, with a stop inside the Kaaba, the holiest building in the Muslim world. The Turkish media widely reported images of the president in pilgrim's clothing, accompanied by some ministers and other members of the official delegation.
However, the heart of the mission was the meeting in Jeddah with Saudi King Salman and Crown Prince bin Salman, the real strong power of the Wahhabi kingdom whose economic and foreign policy he heads. Erdogan stressed the concept of the beginning of "a new era" in relations between Ankara and Riyadh, although more than one expert in Middle Eastern affairs remembers the mutual distrust between the two figures that a meeting, however important, will certainly not be enough to file away.
Relations that have been stormy since the Khashoggi affair is an understatement - a murder perpetrated inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul behind which, even according to the UN, Mbs was behind it - and which were only unblocked by the transfer of the trial. This issue is also a source of internal controversy in Turkey, with the harsh accusations launched by Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, president of the main opposition movement (the Republican Party Chp).
"Erdogan has innocent people sentenced to life imprisonment [the reference is to the philanthropist Osman Kavala] and defends his actions at the airport. Then he gets off the plane and embraces murderers' and 'bows before those who dismembered a person in his country'.
Despite the controversy, the aim of the 'sultan's' mission was to strengthen the strategic partnership and bilateral relations, including economic and commercial relations, in a context of crisis fuelled by the pandemic and the Russian war in Ukraine. Taking advantage of the ambitious "Vision 2030" reform programme launched by Mbs and the privatisation programmes, especially in health and education, Ankara intends to multiply investments, stimulating growth that has long been at a standstill.
Moreover, the visit could also ensure positive results for many Turkish companies operating in the field of infrastructure in the kingdom, restoring the presence of Saudi companies in the Turkish market to inject funds and liquidity. This last point is essential to curb rampant inflation and offer new weapons to Erdogan's propaganda in view of next year's elections. Ankara's hope is to archive the "unofficial" boycott imposed by Riyadh on Turkish imports in 2020 during a phase of strong tension, which led to an estimated cut of around 98%. Today this appears to have been abandoned in the name of Islam and money. Erdogan himself, in a passage during the two-day event, cited the end of Ramadan, the holy month of fasting and prayer, as an opportune moment for the visit to "nourish and strengthen fraternal ties".
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