The successor, sometimes known as MBS, welcomed a majestic procession on horseback and a state band. He smiled broadly as he stood next to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who shook his hand with a small smile before the two leaders disappeared behind the golden doors of the presidential palace to start one-on-one talks. “God willing, we will have the opportunity to assess at what much higher level we can raise Turkey-Saudi Arabia relations,” Erdogan said, announcing the surprise visit late last week. The visit, including a one-on-one meeting and a state dinner, is expected to yield significant trade deals from Turkey. The successor’s arrival followed his visits to Cairo and Jordan, his most important international trip since December 2018, when he was met with protests in Tunisia and objections from Algerian journalists and intellectuals who described his visit as “immoral and politically unfair”. . Prince Mohammed’s visit to Ankara also represents a major shift in Middle East policy and recent efforts to welcome Saudi Arabia back into the international community following commitments to isolate the kingdom over Kasoggi’s assassination. French President Emmanuel Macron visited Riyadh last December, while Boris Johnson visited in March to discuss increasing oil production. Aslı Aydıntaşbaş, the think tank of the European Council on Foreign Relations, said: “I very much doubt that Turkey’s assessment of what happened to Kasogi and how it happened has changed. But they clearly had to give these concessions to the Saudis and arrange a public meeting, as that is the price of normalization. “Part of Saudi Arabia’s request for any possible normalization and improvement of the economic relationship was a public statement of this kiss and make-up. “Turkey may have preferred to have more behind-the-scenes private de-escalation and normalization, but the Saudi government wanted very much to make this public display and official recognition part of the normalization between the two countries.” US President Joe Biden is scheduled to visit Saudi Arabia and meet with Prince Mohammed next month, a decision that rights activists and dissidents have described as a “betrayal” of his previous promises to make the kingdom “outcast”. Biden’s visit comes a year and a half after he agreed to declassify an intelligence report that found that his successor had “approved” the operation to oust Kasogi. “We can learn from the past that MBS is not a trusted partner, so what do we do here?” said Agnès Callamard, head of Amnesty International, discussing Biden’s upcoming meeting. “A credible collaborator does not kill one of his journalists in a foreign country, nor does he use surveillance technology worldwide. A credible partner does not continue to bomb Yemen for no reason. He is not a reliable partner “. Hatice Cengiz, Kasogi’s fiancée and Turkish citizen, wrote on Twitter: “His visit to our country does not change the fact that he is responsible for a murder. “The political legitimacy he gains through his visits to a different country every day does not change the fact that he is a murderer.” Erdogan has previously spearheaded international efforts to condemn Kasogi’s assassination, calling Turkey a “representative of the common conscience” in a speech in October 2018. The Turkish president also insisted on publishing detailed information about the assassination, including a horrific recording from inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, as it took place. “We know that the order for Kasogi’s assassination came from the highest levels of the Saudi government,” he wrote in a 2018 article in the Washington Post. He added: “I do not believe for a moment that King Salman, the guardian of the holy mosques, ordered the beating of Kasogi.” This showed that he believed that Prince Mohammed was responsible. Erdogan resumed relations with countries across the region late last year, reviewing relations with Israel and the Gulf, and taking steps to heal a long-standing rift with Egypt. The decision also marked a regional policy alignment following a decision by a coalition of Gulf states and Egypt to exclude Turkey’s ally Qatar in 2017. In the wake of a resumption of Turkey’s foreign policy in April, Turkish prosecutors have demanded that the trial of 26 Saudi intelligence agents accused of killing Kasogi be transferred to the kingdom, effectively canceling the trial. Erdogan visited Saudi Arabia later that month, where photos of his meeting with Prince Mohammed showed him embracing the smiling crown prince with a stone face. The Turkish president also visited former regional rivals in Abu Dhabi for the first time in a decade in February, following a visit by then-Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan to Ankara last November. The visits proved to be lucrative for Turkey at a critical time, following the sharp devaluation of the Turkish pound by almost half last year. In January, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey announced a nearly $ 5 billion (,0 4.073 billion) currency swap deal to boost reserves at Ankara’s central bank, following the creation of a $ 10 billion ($ 8.16 million) fund. £) for investments of the Emirates in Turkey. “Erdogan clearly wants to focus on internal affairs and is also very desperate to raise funds for Turkey,” Aydıntaşbaş said. “It is also changing its agenda to the Middle East, where, after the Arab Spring, Turkey’s line has been to support bottom-up change. “This mission and this goal have now been completely abandoned, an acknowledgment on the part of Turkey of the longevity of the Gulf monarchies and also a realistic decision to want to do business with them.” General elections are also expected in Turkey next year or so, where the economy is likely to play a key role, and opinion polls suggest Erdogan is facing a growing challenge from his opponents. “It is clear that Erdogan is in a complete dilemma at home because of his party’s economy and declining popularity, so he wants to distance himself from his regional rivals in order to at least mark this context and focus on domestic history.” said Aydıntaşbaş.
