Three years after Khashoggi’s assassination, Mohamed Bin Salman returns to Turkey

The president of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, receives this Wednesday the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohamed bin Salman, who indirectly linked to the murder of the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018, in a new rapprochement between the two countries marked by the Saudi investments in the troubled Turkish economy.

The prince, who drives a large political delegation and financially, he will first have a private meeting with Erdogan in Ankara.

Then there will be a meeting of ministers, experts and businessmen from the two countries, with a markedly economic agenda.

Turkish economy

Turkey has been experiencing economic difficulties for months due to the strong depreciation of the lira Already inflation that already exceeds 70%.

In that context, the expected multi-million dollar Saudi investments could have a positive, important effect for Erdogan in the face of the presidential and parliamentary elections of June 2023, and would be the balm to sweep Khashoggi’s assassination under the carpet, dismembered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

The brutal murder of Khashoggi, a critic of the Saudi heir, shocked the world board and triggered a deep diplomatic crisis between Turkey and Saudi Arabia.

Agreements to be signed

State broadcaster TRT reports that deals will be signed in areas such as tourism, health and military sectorsand that the two leaders will also discuss regional and international issues.

The visit was harshly criticized by the oppositionwhich accuses Erdogan of act for money against the honor and interests of the country.

The Turkish government and justice acted hard after Khashoggi’s murder in October 2018.

Erdogan in his day declared that he was sure that King Salman bin Abdulaziz, father of Mohamed bin Salman, had nothing to do with crime, but that “The order to kill Khashoggi came from the highest levels of the Saudi government”, in reference to the prince.

The Turkish justice has started a trial in absentia against 26 Saudi citizens, until the beginning of last April the case was closed terminate a major investigation to convict the perpetrators.

The relationship between Turkey and Saudi Arabia It was broken for Erdogan’s support for the pro-democracy movements of the so-called Arab Spring between 2010 and 2012, for Qatar and for the Muslim Brotherhood movement, but hit rock bottom with the Khashoggi case.

After the closure of the judicial process at the beginning of last April, Erdogan met the king and the prince in Riyadh last April.

In addition to the interest in receiving an economic injectionseveral analysts see in this passage from Erdogan a message to the United States that he wants Turkey mending relations with Washington’s allies in the Persian Gulf.

EFE

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