Turkey, Saudi Arabia to start ‘new era’ in bilateral ties: Erdogan

Turkey and Saudi Arabia will start a “new era” to boost bilateral ties, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday.

“My visit (to Saudi Arabia) is the manifestation of our common will to start a new era of cooperation as two brotherly countries,” Erdogan told reporters at Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport before his departure for a two-day visit to Jeddah, a Saudi port city.

The Turkish presidency announced Erdogan’s visit on Wednesday, saying it comes upon the invitation of King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia.

Relations between Ankara and Riyadh “will be reviewed in all aspects and the possibilities of developing cooperation will be discussed,” the presidency said.

“During the meetings, views will be exchanged on regional and international issues as well as bilateral relations,” it added.

Last month, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that major steps are ongoing to normalize relations with Saudi Arabia.

“We didn’t have a negative attitude towards Saudi Arabia in terms of normalizing relations, either commercially, economically, or politically,” Cavusoglu told Turkish news broadcaster A Haber in a televised interview.

Turkiye and Saudi Arabia had seen their ties deteriorating in recent years over foreign policy. Tensions increased following Khashoggi’s 2018 murder in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.