Saudi Crown Prince due in Ankara for ties with Türkiye: Erdoğan

ANKARA

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has confirmed that Saud Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman will pay an official visit to Ankara to discuss the future of ties between Türkiye and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

“Crown Prince’s visit will take place on Wednesday [June 22]. We will receive him in Ankara at the presidential compound,” Erdoğan told reporters following the Friday Prayer in Istanbul on June 17. He said the visit will be an official one.

“We will hold bilateral talks between our delegations. We will find a chance to discuss where we can carry the relationship between Türkiye and Saud Arabia. It will be an official visit,” Erdoğan added.

According to an official speaking to the AFP, the two countries will sign several agreements during the trip.

It will be the Crown Prince’s first visit to Türkiye following the brutal murder of dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi on the premises of Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul. The incident deeply soured ties between Saudi Arabia and Türkiye as well as other Western countries.

Saudi agents killed and dismembered Khashoggi, an insider turned critic, in the kingdom’s Istanbul consulate in October 2018. His remains have never been found.

However, Turkey and Saudi Arabia left the killing of the journalist behind after a Turkish court decided to transfer the case against the perpetrators to the Saudi judicial system. Erdoğan paid a visit to Saudi Arabia in May.

On a question on ties with Greece amid continued tension over the problems stemming from the islands, Erdoğan said he already expressed his reaction about Greece’s actions. “I told that I will not meet with them [Greek PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis] as long as I will face dishonest politicians. I also said we have suspended the High-Level Strategic Council meeting as well,” Erdoğan stressed.

“We are not going to hold this year’s meeting. There cannot be a better reaction. Greece should better save itself afterward,” he stated.

Erdoğan had said Mitsotakis no longer exist for him because he called on the American congressmen not to approve the sale of F-16 jet fighters to Türkiye.