Both Riyadh and Ankara seem wary of possible Biden policies.
A phone call made by Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan opened the door to a truce that stopped further media escalation between the two countries, as Riyadh and Ankara find themselves caught in the crosshairs of a potential change in US policy with the incoming administration.
On Friday, King Salman called the Turkish president within the context of coordinating efforts to prepare for the G20 summit to be held the next two days, and took the opportunity to discuss bilateral relations between the two countries, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
The Turkish presidency said in a statement that Erdogan and King Salman “agreed to keep the channels of dialogue open to improve bilateral relations and overcome problems.”
Observers of Saudi affairs believe that King Salman is seeking to reduce tensions with Turkey as part of the course of Saudi future plans, noting that Riyadh knows that it is now targeted and, therefore, needs to cool some fronts in order to devote its full attention to priorities.
These Saudi concerns arose because of the victory of US President-elect Joe Biden, who Riyadh fears will bring back the strategy of former Democratic President Barack Obama by supporting a nuclear deal with Iran and decreasing pressure on Tehran’s proxies in the region.
— Compromises —
According to analysts, the Saudi monarch’s initiative to call the Turkish president reflects Riyadh’s belief that a door to communication and dialogue with Turkey can be opened to alleviate Erdogan’s zeal and excesses and to reach compromises, especially since the latter’s hostility to the Saudi kingdom has become personal and was specifically directed at Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz.
Despite the Turkish escalation, Riyadh believes that Erdogan’s position does not reflect the existence of a Turkish project for Saudi Arabia as much as the mood of a president who tends to create hostilities and finds regional parties, such as Qatar, Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood, ready to invest in them.
Despite the Turkish media campaigns against Saudi Arabia, Riyadh has remained calm and avoided official reactions.
However, recent months have witnessed a Saudi escalation due to a popular anti-Turkish boycott movement that authorities have been enthusiastic about even without officially endorsing. Saudi social media figures and bloggers have taken to social media platforms to defend their leadership and country and launched criticism Turkey.
“Riyadh is not looking for an alliance with Ankara, and it is not betting on Erdogan’s friendship,” an informed Gulf analyst told The Arab Weekly in relation to the Saudi initiative. “But it (Riyadh) is in favour of adopting a strategy to fend off Turkish harm in order to devote itself to facing the pressures that are expected to be placed on it because of its desire to defend its interests and play a political role regionally and internationally, as well as employing its economic and financial might in building foreign relations based on equality and not on blackmail.”
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the analyst said: “It is very likely that during his phone conversation with Erdogan, King Salman must have had in mind the fact that Erdogan himself is threatened by Biden’s upcoming policies, and, therefore, it is in the interest of both countries to stop washing their dirty linen in public in a way that provides ammunition for targeting both of them at the same time.”
During his election campaign, Biden attacked the Turkish president, calling him a dictator and pledging to support the opposition in order to overthrow him. Biden said that Erdogan must “pay a price” and that Washington should support Turkish opposition leaders “so that they can confront and defeat Erdogan, not via a coup but via the electoral process.”
Two weeks ago, the Saudi monarch ordered humanitarian aid to be urgently dispatched to Turkey to help those affected by an earthquake that struck the Izmir governorate at the end of last month.
While Saudi media emphasised that the step was “not linked to any political stances,” observers saw it as carrying a political message to Erdogan, namely that Riyadh stands above petty skirmishes and maintains deeper and strategic positions towards the countries of the Islamic world, including Turkey, even though the latter did not give any thought to Saudi and Gulf interests when investing in the case of murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Saudi Arabia is waiting for Turkey’s response to its extended hand, but unilateral Saudi openness is excluded. In addition, the boycott of Turkish goods may continue until Saudis are convinced that Ankara has ceased targeting Saudi Arabia as an Islamic symbol, as well as stopped attacks on its leadership and stopped promoting a discourse of demonisation and defamation.
Observers of Gulf affairs differentiate the Turkish-Saudi dialogue as a reflection of circumstantial mutual interests from possible Saudi acceptance of any demands related to changing its policy based on fighting militancy and criminalising terrorist entities, including the Muslim Brotherhood. Therefore, it is unlikely that Turkey will try and bring up the latter issue, especially as it is in turn looking to cool the dispute with Saudi Arabia in order to lift the grassroots Saudi boycott of its goods, which has hurt it significantly.
Before the recent crisis, Saudis made Turkey a preferred tourist destination and were at the forefront of a campaign to buy Turkish real estate. These considerations are among those motivating Turkey to seek an urgent Saudi comeback to help pull their economy out of recession.
Source: Arab Weekly
