Turkish President Erdogan, Saudi King Salman discuss ties

ANKARA: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz discussed bilateral ties in a call on Tuesday, the second conversation between the two leaders in less than a month.

Turkey is seeking to improve ties with the Gulf Arab state after they were thrown into crisis by the 2018 killing in Istanbul of journalist Jamal Khashoggi by a Saudi hit squad.

Last year, Saudi businessmen endorsed an unofficial boycott of Turkish goods in response to what they called hostility from Ankara, slashing the value of trade by 98%.

The Turkish president’s spokesman Ibrahim Kalin told said last month that Erdogan and King Salman had “a good call” in April and that the foreign ministers of the two countries had agreed to meet.

The conversation came a day ahead of a meeting between Turkish and Egyptian officials in Cairo, the latest step in Turkey’s push to mend relations with another US-allied Arab power.

Turkey said in March it had started talks with Egypt to try to improve relations which collapsed after Egypt’s army toppled a democratically elected Muslim Brotherhood president close to Turkey in 2013, in what Ankara said was a military coup.

A thaw in ties between the regional powerhouses could have repercussions around the Mediterranean. They have backed rival sides in the war in Libya and sealed conflicting maritime deals with other coastal states.

Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said  that a new period was beginning in Turkey-Egypt ties.  Speaking in an interview, Cavusoglu said Cairo had invited the Turkish delegation to visit Egypt in the first week of May to discuss ties.

“The Egyptian side invited a delegation from Turkey to their country in the first week of May. The conditions between us have matured, meetings could continue,” Cavusoglu said.

Cairo has said Turkey’s actions “must show alignment with Egyptian principles” to normalise ties. Last month, Ankara asked Egyptian opposition TV channels operating in Turkey to moderate their criticism of Cairo, in the first concrete step aimed at easing diplomatic tensions.