Turkish President Erdogan and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman greeted each other on Thursday with a warm, brotherly hug. It was Erdogan’s first visit to Saudi Arabia in five years. And it looked like Saudi agents The Washington Postcolumnist Jamal Khashoggi had never sawed to pieces at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. As if Erdogan had never accused the crown prince of having ordered the murder.
The message of Erdogan’s visit was: sand over it. He had taken a large delegation to the Peace Palace in Jeddah, where he spoke with the crown prince for over an hour. He also drank traditional coffee with King Salman before they sat down for a dinner that lasted into the early hours. The next day, Erdogan went on a pilgrimage to Mecca with the entire Turkish delegation. He called the end of Ramadan an auspicious time for “strengthening the bonds of brotherhood.”
Erdogan’s visit is the culmination of months of Turkey’s efforts to restore relations with Saudi Arabia. He is desperate for money to ease the economic slump in Turkey ahead of the 2023 parliamentary and presidential elections. His visit is part of a wider charm offensive towards the Gulf states, following years of hostility over Erdogan’s support for the Muslim Brotherhood during the Arab uprisings in 2011.
An improvement in relations with the United Arab Emirates last year already led to a potential influx of billions of dollars. The Emirates signed a $4.9 billion currency swap with the Turkish central bank, which eased pressure on the troubled Turkish currency. In addition, the Emirates presented plans to invest $10 billion in the Turkish economy in the coming years and to double trade between the two countries.
End of Turkish lawsuit
Erdogan’s visit to Saudi Arabia would actually take place in February. But that didn’t work out because a lawsuit was still pending in Turkey against the 26 alleged murderers of Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate. And the Saudi crown prince personally blamed Erdogan for taking the assassination so high, sparking massive global outrage. But earlier this month, the Turkish court suddenly decided to transfer the lawsuit to Saudi Arabia.
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That was a slap in the face to Hatice Cengiz, Khashoggi’s Turkish fiancée, who accompanied him to the Saudi consulate on that fateful day. “I was surprised and upset,” said Cengiz, who heard the decision in court. “I thought it was a political decision. By withdrawing, the Turkish state wanted to legally close the criminal case. This was a low point in our history. It is clear that we should not expect anything from the judicial process in Saudi Arabia.”
Cengiz appealed the verdict, but that was rejected by a higher court. Despite this, she has not yet lost her faith in the Turkish legal system. “At least in my country there is still a legal process,” she says. “I will use all legal remedies to which I am entitled as a citizen. I have high hopes for a trial at the Constitutional Court. I think that could lead to a positive verdict.” And if not, there’s another case she’s filed in the US.
But that could take a long time. In the meantime, normalization of relations has already started. For example, Saudi Arabia is slowly ending the unofficial boycott of Turkish products that it imported in response to the Khashoggi case. This led to a sharp drop in Turkish exports to Saudi Arabia, an important market for Turkish companies. Last year, Turkish exports amounted to only $200 million, compared to $3.2 billion in 2019.
The Saudi authorities always denied that there was a boycott. But Turkish companies noticed that their products stood longer at the Saudi border. “It used to take a week to get through customs, now months,” says a Turkish entrepreneur who wishes to remain anonymous because of the sensitivity of the subject. “As a result, exporters paid more for the rental of the containers than their goods were worth.”
It didn’t stop there. The Saudi authorities also called on their citizens to stop vacationing in Turkey and not to buy real estate in Turkey. Also, Saudi banks no longer did business directly with Turkish banks. “Even if you managed to get your stuff through Saudi customs, you still couldn’t get your money,” says the entrepreneur. “Some Saudi companies seized this opportunity to not pay. It sometimes took years before I got my money.”
Yet this did not stop Turkish companies from continuing to do business with Saudi Arabia. According to the entrepreneur, many exporters sent their products via third countries, such as Bulgaria, Greece or the Emirates. “They just changed the labels with the country of origin,” he says. “I myself set up a company in the Emirates with great difficulty, so that I could continue with a major project in Saudi Arabia. I hope these kinds of tricks will no longer be necessary after Erdogan’s visit.”
oblivion
Will Khashoggi’s shocking murder be forgotten when relations are restored? Cengiz hopes not. She tries to keep his memory alive by working on similar human rights issues. But she believes that Turkey is less to blame than Western countries, which made little noise after the murder.
“Turkey reacted correctly, but was on its own. The country realized that it could not do much and changed its policy. Despite this, the case is still on the international agenda. I attribute this to the fact that Jamal was an honest man. His spirit keeps him alive.”
A version of this article also appeared in the newspaper of April 30, 2022