In October 2018, the murder of columnist and Saudi Arabian Jamal Khashoggi (Jamal Khashoggi) at the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Istanbul, Turkey has attracted high attention. The Turkish government said it will assist in the investigation and return the truth to the public. Khashoggi is a critic of Saudi Arabia. He has been abroad for a long time. The outside world has always believed that Saudi Arabia's crown prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) cannot be separated from this murder. More than a year after the incident, several suspects suspected of murder in the embassy were found guilty and sentenced to heavy sentences, but senior officials such as Saudi Arabia's Consul General in Istanbul were acquitted, Mohammed al-Otaibi, Crown Prince's State Political Consultative Conference Saud al-Qahtani, former deputy director of the Intelligence Bureau, and other senior officials were acquitted.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman
In February this year, the declassified report of the Office of the US Director of National Intelligence pointed out that the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia was the decision-maker who ordered the approval of the murder. However, compared to the tough attitude of the Turkish government vowed to find the murderer and made the details of the case public when the murder occurred, there are no more comments on the incident.
In addition, the two countries have also recently started talks related to military purchase cases. Turkish President Erdogan said that he had received a demand from Saudi Arabia to purchase Turkish-made armed drones. Although Turkey has not agreed, it can be seen from Turkey's attitude change before and after and the more frequent interaction between the two countries, it can be seen that Turkey's foreign policy has shifted again.
Kashukhi's murder did indeed put Saudi Arabia and Türkiye's diplomatic relations into the historical freezing point of "dead hatred level" - but this reality has loosened after three years.
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Arab Peninsulaand Ottoman Turkish Empireand
18th century Tsarist Russia and Ottoman Empire standoff situation chart
Historical perspective, since the Ottoman Turkish Empire era, conflicts and cooperation with the Arabian Peninsula have been constantly intertwined. In the 19th century when the Ottoman was strong, the forces on the Arabian Peninsula were suppressed by the pro-Ottoman Arab tribes. It was not until after World War I that they officially became Saudi Arabia on par with the Turkish Republic.
Saudi Arabia family raised its storm in the name of religion in the early 19th century and broke out with the Ottoman rulers on the Arabian Peninsula for a seven-year "Wahabi War" broke out on the Arabian Peninsula, but the ending was the first time that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was destroyed by the Ottoman army. It was not until after World War I that the Saudi Arabia family that made a comeback successfully established the modern Kingdom of Saudi Arabia through the coalition alliance.
1913 Ottoman Empire
Although Türkiye was one of the first countries to recognize and establish diplomatic relations after Saudi Arabia's independence, its relations with Saudi Arabia have developed relatively slowly compared with other Gulf countries. It was not until 1957 when Türkiye and Syria crises broke out, Saudi Arabia played the role of coordinator, deepened diplomatic contact with Türkiye.
For the United States, although Saudi Arabia is an important ally of Middle East ; for Turkey, the relationship with Saudi Arabia still changes with the closeness between Western countries - especially when Turkey does not receive support from Western countries dominated by the United States, it will turn around and try to narrow its relations with Arab countries.
The most obvious example is that in the late 1960s, when Turkey's relations with the United States became worse due to the Cyprus issue, Turkey's foreign policy immediately turned to the Middle East countries. In 1968, Turkish Prime Minister Suleiman Demirel (Cevdet Sunay) led a delegation to Saudi Arabia. In addition to striving to develop diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia, it also expanded its business exchanges between the two countries economically.
Türkiye has had a feud with the United States due to the Cyprus issue and sought support from the "Arab oil state" in the mid-1970s. In 1973, the two countries signed an agreement on economic, commercial and scientific cooperation, attracting many Turks to Saudi Arabia to do business or work, which also earned a lot of foreign exchange for Türkiye in the 1980s.
In addition to more frequent economic interactions, Saudi Arabia, which has rich oil revenue, also bailed Turkey for US$400 million during the Turkey economic crisis in 1979. Until the 1980s, Saudi Arabia became the third largest creditor country in Türkiye after the United States and Germany, which also caused Türkiye to rely heavily on Saudi Arabia financially.
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political and economic cooperation between Turkey and Saudi Arabia
In addition to Turkey's own foreign policy, the turmoil in the Middle East is also a driving force for accelerating cooperation between the two countries. For example, the Iranian revolution in 1979, the Iran-Iraq war in 1980, and the multiple Pakistan-Israel conflicts have made Turkey and Saudi Arabia more inclined to seek mutual cooperation in the unstable Middle East situation.
In 1985, Turkey and Saudi Arabia launched a joint military operation and signed relevant military agreements to provide Turkey with fighter jets to Saudi Arabia. This undoubtedly added an export market for the defense industry for Turkey; for Saudi Arabia, it is an ally that consolidates the same front in the region.
Turkey and Saudi Arabia's military cooperation once increased at the end of the Cold War ; but with the collapse of Soviet Union and the "American rule" determined by Gulf War in 1991, there was no positive explanation for bilateral military cooperation.
With the end of the Cold War, Turkey once again turned to the West in terms of foreign policy. For Turkey at that time, joining EU was the primary goal. Conservative and strong Islamic Saudi Arabia was naturally not Turkey's key development target. The relationship between the two countries fell to freezing point after the Arab Spring in 2010.
First of all, the Syrian civil war broke out in 2011. Although Turkey and Saudi Arabia are both worried about Iran 's intervention in Syrian situation and support the same anti-government forces. But Saudi Arabia's main purpose is to restrain the development of Iran and Russia's power, while Turkey pays more attention to the issue of the Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) at home. Turkey has not received full support from Saudi Arabia on the issue of Kurdish, and the Syrian civil war has not brought closer cooperative relations to the Turkish and Saudi countries.
The next is the Egyptian military unrest in 2013. Due to the different factions supported by the two countries, discrimination has come to the forefront. In the Egyptian coup, Turkey supported President Mohamed Morsi from the Muslim Brotherhood, but Saudi Arabia regarded the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization and supported President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi with a military background.
Egypt issue has always been the biggest point of disagreement between Turkey and Saudi Arabia. Turkey has not had any diplomatic contact with President Sisi since 2013. However, judging from the recent actions of the Turkish government to President Sisi in Egypt, Turkey's foreign policy will be more inclined to Middle Eastern countries in the future, and its relations with Saudi Arabia are expected to be closer.
In 2016, Erdogan presented a medal to the visiting Saudi Arabia King Salman to express his friendship and importance to the relationship between the two countries. Unexpectedly, not long after, the Tusha and Sandy countries, which had different positions in the "Arab Spring", broke out in the " Khashoggi incident ".
In addition, when the Gulf countries including Saudi Arabia implemented diplomatic blockade on Kada in 2017, Türkiye chose to stand on the same front as Kada, and its relations with Gulf countries were also affected. At that time, Türkiye set up an military base in Kada to protect Kada in order to show that it was the big brother who "protected political stability and peace".At the same time, he did not make a biased request to the Saudi state to set up a Turkish military base, but the Saudi government rejected it on the grounds that it was "not needed".
Although the Kada crisis at that time made many countries sweat, fearing that the misfire in the area would cause greater conflicts, it ended peacefully. The Gulf countries gradually lifted diplomatic blockades against Qatar at the end of last year, which also allowed Türkiye to develop its relations with Gulf countries to be more smooth.
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The values of the two countries are very different
Although Türkiye and Saudi Arabia are both Islamic countries, the political values of the two countries are very different.
Kemal
Turkey After experiencing Kemal's Westernization baptism, Separation of church and state and anti-imperialist ideas have become the central idea of Turkey; Saudi Arabia was influenced by Wahhabiism, with the goal of establishing a country that is united in religion and monarchy. Although they are both Middle Eastern countries that are biased towards the US camp in regional politics, their different routes are also one of the reasons why the two countries do not have a deep cooperative relationship.
For Turkey, since 2016, it has gradually become alienated from Western countries in the diplomatic level, and it is impossible to reach a consensus with the United States on the Syria issue. The focus of diplomatic development in the future will be more inclined to the Middle East. Countries including Saudi Arabia and Egypt will be key countries in Türkiye's diplomatic relations. It will even continue to contact Iran and Russia to restrain the United States.
For example, in 2019, the tripartite summit formed by Türkiye, Iran and Russia on the Syrian issue was a strong warning to the United States. Under Türkiye's foreign policy of leaning towards the Middle East, relations with the Saudi Arabian royal family are naturally very important. Although Türkiye still reserves its attitude towards Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed, Türkiye does not want to undermine the current harmony between the two countries and improve diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia, it is beneficial or harmful to Türkiye at present.
Hussein's Empire Dream
Last year's G20 Leaders' Meeting, Turkish President Erdogan spoke with Saudi Arabia King Salman, saying that the channels for dialogue between the two countries are smooth and also implying that Türkiye intends to bring the relationship between the two countries closer. On the one hand, it can repair the relationship with the Gulf countries, and on the other hand, it also hopes that the Saudi state will stop supporting Greece in its own dispute with Greece and Eastern Mediterranean.
For Saudi Arabia, after the intervention in Yemen's civil war, it has continued to be criticized by Western countries. Some countries have also imposed arms embargoes on Saudi Arabia. At the same time, if allies with military strength can be added to the Middle East, it is also in line with the diplomatic interests of Saudi Arabia. However, whether the United States can still control these two important Middle East allies and whether it can satisfy the interests of both Tu and Saudi countries diplomatically will affect the foreign policies and relationship between the two countries.
Although Türkiye tried its best to express its kindness after the Khashoggi case, Saudi Arabia announced the decision to close several Turkish schools in March, which still caused a significant rebound in Turkey.
Whether the diplomatic interests of the two countries can develop in the same direction in the future, or whether the small actions of the two sides secretly competing for the Middle East brother will gradually come to the forefront, which is worthy of subsequent observation!
