Peace be upon you. It is time for Muslims to unite and reach agreement. We have had enough bloodshed and sorrow; Muslims should come together.
Riyadh—Al-Quds Al-Arabi: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will tour Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait next week to affirm the shared alliance between Turkey and the three major Gulf states.
Turkish diplomatic sources said he would begin in Doha, then visit Riyadh and Kuwait. In Qatar, he would hold intensive meetings under the Turkish-Qatari Supreme Strategic Committee to discuss shared issues.
Economic, investment, and trade agreements were expected to be signed in the president’s presence, increasing Qatar’s cooperation with Turkey, particularly in energy and gas.
Qatar signed military and security agreements with Turkey the previous year, and more were expected during the visit. They were particularly important to the two countries, which supported certain Syrian opposition factions. Erdoğan would then meet Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz on issues to expand security, economic, and commercial cooperation, following decisions agreed on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Turkey two weeks earlier.
Saudi Arabia awaited the visit with strong interest, hoping for full strategic understanding and cooperation that would create a Gulf-Turkish alliance to confront Iran.
The Riyadh summit was expected to cover important political, military, and security issues, strengthening cooperation particularly on regional matters where the two sides agreed, notably Syria.
Rapidly growing Gulf-Turkish relations had increased reciprocal visits with a military focus between Riyadh and Doha on one side and Ankara on the other. These visits included agreements across several areas, especially defense and security.
This was reflected in field coordination among the three countries over logistical and arms support for armed Syrian opposition groups inside Syria.
Diplomatic sources in Riyadh expected Erdoğan’s visits to Doha and Riyadh to have a stronger military than political emphasis, especially in reinforcing military and security coordination on Syria and support for opposition factions.
New security and military cooperation agreements were expected in Riyadh, particularly on joint weapons factories. Seeking to expand and diversify energy supplies, Turkey increasingly saw the Gulf—the world’s largest energy source—as its strongest ally amid challenges facing Ankara and conflicts over regional issues with former allies, especially Russia and Iran.
The tour excluded the United Arab Emirates, which sought a regional role. The article suggested this reflected cool relations between Abu Dhabi and Ankara: the UAE was a strong ally of Egypt, then hostile toward Turkey, and opposed the Muslim Brotherhood, which Ankara regarded as a strategic ally.