Signs of improvement in Turkish-Saudi relations

By Abdullah Al Ghadawi; Translation by Yusra Ahmed

(Zaman Al Wasl)- The mutual relations between Saudi Arabia and Turkey have cautiously started recovering, especially after the death of King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz when the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attended for condolence.

Only a week after the Turkish President’s visit to Saudi Arabia, Turkey sent the National Warship (Büyükada F-512) to Jedda seaport for military exercises in the Red sea, a step considered to be the expansion for the Military Cooperation agreement between the two countries was signed by Crown Prince Salman Bin Abdulaziz at the time.

It is axiomatic that Turkey is keen to resume good relations with Gulf countries, unquestionably, for the economical and political benefits. The closeness between Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Egypt increased Turkey’s will to improve relationships with Saudi Arabia, however, its attitude from Mohamed Morsi and Support to Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, stopped Turkey from going further.

But it seems that circumstances have changed with King Salman. Many observers and expert in Saudi Arabia’s politics, expect the country would go back to conservative era, different from the relatively liberal atmosphere the country has lived in for the last 10 years.

Saudi Arabia’s attitude as a contra- Political Islam is well-known; still it can tolerate Turkey’s political Islam, as it is seen different from the way of former Egyptian president, Mohamed Morsi.

“Different era, needs different states, men and foreign policy”, an article by Jamal Khashoggi, analyst with close ties to the decision-making circle in Saudi Arabia said: “we need a common Saudi-American-Turkish operation room to put off fire in the region and do the reconciliation.”

 The article relied on the political mode in Saudi Arabia as well as basing on analysis of circumstances. What is Turkey going to give in return to be able to improve relations with Saudi Arabia? “Turkey needs to realize that its strategic relations with Saudi Arabia are far more important than supporting Muslim Brotherhood,” Khashoggi said in the same article.

 The optimistic aspect in the improvement of Turkish-Saudi Arabia relations is that King Salman himself signed the Military-economical cooperation agreement when he was the Crown Prince and Minister of Defence.

Moreover, his visit to Turkey in May 2013 could have been a strong base for common relations between the two countries, if the chaos and shuffling cards in the Middle East had not taken place.

Supporting the military coup in Egypt by Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates was the straw that broke the camel’s back and cut the relations between Turkey and Saudi Arabia, and then Turkey's attitude toward Egypt was the criterion to evaluate mutual relations, forgetting other crisis in Syria.

There is no doubt that Turkish-American-Saudi axis could be the rescue boat for the region, however, would the cooperation between Turkey and Saudi Arabia start putting bases to enable that axis to do the miracle and put the region on track, especially after it has become like a fire ball burning everything around.