Turkiye's Erdogan visits Saudi Arabia as ties between former rivals warm

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrived in Riyadh on Tuesday, Saudi media said, his first visit to the kingdom in over two years as Saudi Arabia moves closer to its rival-turned-ally.

Ties between Turkiye and Saudi Arabia have steadily recovered in recent years, with the countries cooperating on a range of diplomatic issues.

This includes support for Gaza and backing Syria's new government in the wake of the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad in 2024.

Erdogan is set to meet Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during the visit — his first to the kingdom since July 2023, which was part of a Gulf trip aimed at drumming up investments.

There was no official indication of what the two sides would discuss.

But Turkish state-run news agency Anadolu reported that they would discuss the "deepening cooperation" between the countries, as well as regional and global developments.

It added that Erdogan would then travel to Cairo on Wednesday.

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The visit comes days after two sources told AFP that Turkiye would not be joining a mutual defence pact between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan had said earlier this month that they had entered talks aimed at joining the alliance.

Relations between Riyadh and Turkiye were enormously strained after Saudi agents murdered Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October 2018.

Turkiye angered Saudi Arabia by vigorously pursuing the case at the time, opening an investigation and briefing international media about the lurid details of the murder.

The meeting in Riyadh comes days ahead of a potential round of talks in Turkiye between the United States and Iran on February 6, an Arab official told AFP earlier today, after Tehran called for the restart of nuclear talks and Washington warned of consequences if a deal was not reached.

Erdogan has emerged as one of the key mediators leading a diplomatic push to find a resolution between the long-time foes to head off open conflict between the two sides.