Turkey's Erdogan, Saudi king agree to solve issues through dialogue

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz agreed in a phone call improve bilateral ties and solve outstanding disputes through dialogue, the Turkish presidency said early on Saturday.

Saudi state news agency SPA reported late on Friday that the king called Erdogan to coordinate efforts exerted within the work of the G20 summit, which will take place on November 21 and 22.

Saudi Arabia and Turkey have been at odds for some years over foreign policy and attitudes towards political groups. The murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018 sharply escalated tensions.

For more than a year, some Saudi and Turkish traders have speculated that Saudi Arabia was enforcing an informal boycott of imports from Turkey. Turkey’s leading business groups urged Saudi Arabia last month to improve trade relations.

“President Erdogan and King Salman agreed to keep channels of dialogue open to improve bilateral ties and overcome issues,” the Turkish presidency said in a statement, adding the two men had also discussed the G20 summit.