Erdogan visits Saudi Arabia for the first time since Khashoggi’s assassination

Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdoganarrived on Thursday in Saudi Arabia on an official visit for the first time since the murder in 2018 at a Saudi consulate in Istanbul of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, which he strongly denounced at the time.

Erdoğan met with King Salman bin Abdulaziz and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, with whom he discussed “means to develop” relations between the two countries, said the official agency saudi SPA.

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Bin Salman and Erdoğan “they reviewed the Turkish-Saudi relations and the means to develop them in all domains”, said SPA at the end of the match.

In recent months, Erdoğan initiated a series of official meetings with the main regional leaders and had announced an imminent visit to the Arab kingdom on January 3.

Turkey, which opened the trial in the absence of 26 Saudi suspects for the death of Khashoggi in July 2020, closed the case on April 7, returning it to Arabian Saudi to the dismay of human rights organizations.

The visit from Erdoğan It comes at a time when Turkey is facing a serious economic crisis. The Turkish pound plunged 44% against the dollar in 2021 and inflation rose by 61.1% one year ago last March.

This situation led the Turkish head of state to improve his relations with old rivals, such as Egypt and Israel, and especially with the rich oil monarchies of the Gulf, including Arabian Saudi and the United Arab Emirates.

Before your departure from Istanbul, Erdoğan he said he hopes this visit “will open a new era” in Turkish-Saudi relations.

“Strengthening cooperation in the fields of defense and finance is in our mutual interest”he added.

A Turkish official told AFP on condition of anonymity that the president Erdoğan will not make any official announcements during his visitclosed to the press.

The case Khashoggi had cooled relations between the two countries, already tense from 2017 due to the blockade decreed by Arabian Saudi to Qatar, an ally of Turkey.

Jamal Khashoggian saudi Washington Post editorialist, was assassinated on October 2, 2018 at the consulate headquarters saudi in Istanbul when he went to get the necessary papers for his wedding with a Turkish bride.

Receive Tayyip Erdoganin the power from 19 years ago as prime minister and then as president, he hopes to be re-elected in the next presidential election, scheduled for June 2023.

Source: Elcomercio

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