Erdogan’s regional vision for improving Turkey’s economic situation
One of the important issues that has changed Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s approach to regional relations, especially Arab relations, is the increase in the exchange rate of the US dollar against the Turkish lira, to the point that each US dollar is currently trading at about 14 lira in Turkey. It is unprecedented in the history of this country, and the prices of goods and inflation have increased and caused many protests in this country.
The appreciation of the lira against the dollar, followed by Turkey’s economic woes, has prompted Erdogan to establish relations with countries such as the UAE and Saudi Arabia, with which he has had many problems over the past few years, using Qatar as his mediator. In this way, by attracting the capital of the Arab countries, it will organize the turbulent economy of Turkey.
Following the same route, Erdogan headed a high-level delegation to Doha last Monday, which coincided with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s regional trip to Oman, the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar. Saudi sources have stated that Saudi Crown Prince Bin Salman and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will not meet in Doha, as bin Salman will be in Qatar on Wednesday and Erdogan will leave Qatar on Tuesday.
Erdogan acknowledges the effectiveness of relations with Arab countries in the welfare of the Turkish people
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told a news conference on Monday before leaving for Doha that it was important to strengthen his country’s relations with the Arab countries in the region. “Strengthening our relations with the Arab countries of the Persian Gulf will have a positive impact on the welfare situation in Turkey, and we will not pay attention to internal opposition in this regard.”
Erdogan stressed that our relations with Qatar are strategic and that new agreements will be signed between the two countries during their two-day visit to Doha at the invitation of Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.
He also stressed that he will work to strengthen relations with the GCC countries, and that this will play a positive role in improving the situation in Turkey.
Meanwhile, Qatari Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani, in a joint press conference with his Turkish counterpart Mevlüt Çavuşoغlu in Doha, called Qatar’s relations with Turkey a partnership, strategic and exceptional, and stressed that at the meeting between the Emir of Qatar. And the Turkish president will sign many agreements in at least 12 areas.
The Qatari foreign minister also mentioned the talks on regional issues, including Iraq, Afghanistan and the developments in the Palestinian issue, as two other issues discussed by Erdogan and Sheikh Tamim.
The Qatari foreign minister, meanwhile, said the timing of the Turkish president and Saudi Crown Prince’s visit to Qatar was coincidental.
Although Erdogan’s visit to Doha was mentioned in response to the Emir of Qatar’s visit to Turkey on December 26, 2016, experts in the region’s visit to Qatar in the current difficult economic situation paved the way for assistance to Qatar and other Arab countries. Ankara is known for overcoming the current economic situation.
The Emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, traveled to Ankara last year to attend the 6th Turkey-Qatar Summit, where he met with Erdogan to discuss bilateral relations, regional developments, Turkey’s economic situation and some Arab countries’ relations with Israel. It was one of the highlights of this meeting.
Doha-Ankara relations In recent years, and especially since June 2017, when Saudi Arabia intended to invade Qatar, but was not carried out with the help of General Haj Qassem Soleimani and the support of Iran and Turkey for Qatar, has witnessed increasing development. And there was uninterrupted cooperation at various levels, with great political coordination and agreement on views on many regional and international issues, especially Middle East issues.
Relations between the two countries at the military level were also strengthened in June 2017 after the military cooperation agreement was implemented after the approval of the Turkish Parliament; Under the agreement, a Turkish military base was established in Qatar and joint exercises were held between the two countries’ armies.
Ankara seeks rapprochement with Riyadh
Turkey’s economic situation and problems have led to a change in Erdogan’s approach to Saudi Arabia and Ankara to a reconciliation process with Riyadh, although the two countries have been involved in several cases, including the brutal assassination of Al Saud journalist Jamal Khashgechi in September. He was assassinated in 1397 at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, and also Turkish interventions in the issue of Libya and a number of other Arab countries that joined the revolution in 1389, are fundamentally different.
With the resolution of the dispute between Qatar and the four countries of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt in January last year (1399), Turkey’s disputes with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates also began to subside until April 26 this year during Erdogan’s call. With the arrival of “King Salman bin Abdulaziz” due to the congratulations on the arrival of the holy month of Ramadan, the ice of the Ankara-Riyadh dispute began to melt.
Following the same path, on May 26 this year, Ibrahim Kalin, a spokesman for the Turkish presidency, said that his country was looking for ways to repair relations with Saudi Arabia.
In an interview with Reuters, Colin said at the same time that Ankara respected the Saudi court’s decision to assassinate Saudi critic Jamal Khashgechi, a move that was immediately withdrawn by experts on Ankara’s withdrawal from the case of the murder of the critical Saudi journalist. Was titled.
“We will look for ways to repair relations with Saudi Arabia based on a more positive agenda,” he said.
Following this, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşo اوlu traveled to Saudi Arabia on May 11, 1400, and relations between Riyadh and Ankara improved.
On July 25, the Foreign Ministers of Turkey and Saudi Arabia on the sidelines of the International Conference on Central Asia and South Asia in a step that showed the improvement of relations between Ankara and Riyadh after the tragic murder of Jamal Khashgechi, a critical Saudi journalist at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Tashkent (capital of Uzbekistan) met to discuss developments in the region.
On the 5th of this month (December), Turkish media reported on a meeting of high-ranking Turkish and Saudi officials in Istanbul, during which Turkish Vice President Fouad Oqtai met with Saudi Minister of Commerce Majid al-Qusbi to discuss bilateral relations, especially in the field of They examined the economy.
Normalization of Abu Dhabi-Ankara relations
It was on January 12, 2016 that the door to improve relations between the UAE and Turkey appeared and “Anwar Gargash”, the UAE Minister of Foreign Affairs, announced that his country wants normal relations with Turkey.
“We want to tell Ankara not to be the main supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood, and we want Turkey to regain the focus of its relations with Arab countries,” Gargash said.
“There is no reason to disagree with Turkey, and Ankara’s recent actions, such as improving relations with Europe, are encouraging,” he stressed.
Earlier in the day, Gargash defended relations between his country and Turkey, saying the UAE was Turkey’s first trading partner.
On April 14 this year, Turkey suddenly appointed its new ambassador to the UAE, and Ankara-Abu Dhabi relations were somewhat normalized.
On the same day, the official Turkish newspaper published a decree signed by the President regarding the appointment of a new ambassador to the UAE, along with 13 new ambassadors to European, Asian and African countries.
According to the newspaper, the decision to appoint 13 ambassadors and return 10 more ambassadors to Ankara was significant in that the Turkish ambassadors to the UAE and Iraq were replaced by two more ambassadors.
On December 23rd, after 10 years of strained relations between Ankara and Abu Dhabi, the Crown Prince of the UAE paid an important visit to Turkey, and relations between the two countries returned to normal; This trip was so important for Erdogan that he personally went to meet “Mohammad bin Zayed Al Nahyan” at Ankara airport and they went to the Turkish Presidential Palace together !; However, it should be said that Muhammad bin Zayed’s trip to Turkey was also important for him.
Strengthening relations between Turkey and the UAE and other Gulf Arab states, as well as being important to Ankara and can save the Turkish economy in the current difficult situation, can also help Abu Dhabi achieve Arab hegemony. The UAE authorities have also hung from the rotten rope of the Zionist regime to achieve it.
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