Turkey, Saudi Arabia agree to boost support to Syria opposition

RIYADH - Anadolu Agency

AA Photo

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Saudi Arabia’s King Salman, who met in the Saudi capital of Riyadh, have agreed to boost support to the Syrian opposition.

The two leaders discussed a range of regional issues, including Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Palestine and Egypt, during a meeting accompanied by their delegations, Turkish state-run Anadolu Agency reported citing presidential sources.

Erdoğan and the Saudi king particularly put emphasis on “the necessity of enhancing support to the Syrian opposition in a way that aims at yielding results,” the agency stated.

The leaders also renewed their commitment to bolster bilateral relations, it said.

After the lunch meeting with the delegations, Erdoğan and Salman held a tete-a-tete meeting for around 35 minutes.

Erdoğan’s arrival at the Saudi capital came only a day after Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s visit to the city.

El-Sisi and Erdoğan, whose relations have been strained since el-Sisi ousted his Islamist predecessor Mohamed Morsi in July 2013, did not meet in the oil-rich Gulf state.

Speaking after his meeting with the Saudi king on March 1, el-Sisi said the timing of the visits was a “coincidence.”

But he also urged Turkey to “stop interfering in Egypt’s internal affairs,” in an interview with al-Arabiya.
Cairo accuses Turkey, as well as Qatar, of supporting the Muslim Brotherhood, the movement of Morsi, blacklisted by Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Egypt.