By Abdulllah Al Ghadawi; Translaiton by Yusra Ahmed
(Zamnan Al Wasl)- Speculations are mounting in regard to the possible opening of a new page in the relations between Saudi Arabia and Turkey after the King Salman Bin Abdul-Aziz assumed power in the Kingdom.
Closeness between the two countries started when Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s participated in the funerals of King Abdullah Bin Abdul-Aziz and Ankara’s announcement of its mourning of his departure, to be followed with sending a Turkish military frigate to the Saudi coasts as part of empowering bilateral ties between them.
The pace of improvement even exceeded expectation, as Erdogan is visiting Saudi Arabia in coming days, and King Salman is supposed to attend the Summit of Twenty in Turkey in October, with expectation of sooner visit to Turkey in this April.
The quick enhancement of relations between the two countries is expected to form a strategic axis in the region which could be empowered when Qatar joins. The importance of the axis came from the new circumstances with retraction of United State’s interest in the region, and attempts of Iran to influence more countries at the expense of Saudi Arabia like Lebanon, Syrian and Yemen.
Visit of Qatari Emir Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani to Saudi Arabia last week supports the possibility of forming the triple axis “Saudi Arabia-Turkey-Qatar”
Two signs took place last week showed the tightened relations between the two countries, the first was the statement Saud al-Faisal, the Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs, in which he expressed that Saudi Arabia does not have any problem with Muslim Brotherhoods in general, but they have conservation against the part which swore allegiance to the “Murshid”.
It is clear that Turkey was the one intended, that was supported when the Kingdom hosted one of the most powerful leader in Muslim Brotherhood in Turkey “sheikh Ali al-Qardaghi” in the conference against terrorism held in Mecca.
The Turkish-Saudi closeness was sensed by Egyptian leadership, which instructed their media to attack the new Saudi King's policies and decision.
However, the big surprise came with the new leakage of Sisi when he expressed his greediness in Gulf Countries money.
Despite that King Salman confirmed to Sisi over the phone that their relations would not be affected, but covertly the Saudi Arabia would start review the unlimited fund they provided to Egypt.
Troubles in Syria and Iraq alone should be a strong reason for the Turkey and Saudi Arabia to tie their relations, as both countries have long borders almost 800.km with Iraq and Syria, and outcomes of the Islamic State existence in Iraq on Saudi Arabia is similar to that come from Syria for Turkey.
Moreover, the new development in Yemen and controlling many cities by the Houthi and Iranian influence kept both countries alerted.
Comments About This Article
Please fill the fields below.