Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan kicked off his three-day Gulf tour on Monday accompanied by a number of his ministers, around 200 Turkish businesspeople and journalists.
Erdoğan’s first stop was Saudi Arabia, with whom diplomatic relations were established in 1929. He will then travel to Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
Turkey endured a period of tense relations with Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries in 2013. However, as Erdoğan has adopted realistic and pragmatic approaches, a new page has seemingly turned.
Turkish-Saudi relations have generally been described as “well below potential”. According to Turkish Statistical Institute figures, the trade volume between the two countries has been $5.198bn and the number of Saudi tourists visiting Turkey is around half a million as of July 2022.
These figures could potentially be much higher.
In June 2022, the visit of Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman to Turkey gave a strong boost to the renewed relations between the two countries.
President Erdoğan stated before the Turkish elections in May 2023 that after the elections, if he won— which he did — he would visit Gulf countries to express his appreciation for their support and explore new cooperation opportunities.
Before his departure, Erdoğan stated at his press conference at the airport that mutual investment and finance will be two major topics of the talks in Riyadh, pointing to Saudi Arabia's special position in the areas of trade, investment and contracting services.
The total value of projects undertaken by Turkish contractors in Saudi Arabia in the last 20 years stood at approximately $25bn but Erdoğan emphasised his wish for Turkish companies to play an even greater role in Saudi Arabia's large-scale projects.
Economic headwinds
His visit comes as the Turkish economy is going through a very difficult period. Erdoğan made a campaign promise to put Turkey's economy back on track.
In order to be able to deliver on his promise, he needs to do many things. He also needs foreign capital. Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries seem to be his preferred options.