Relations between Saudi Arabia and Turkey have long fluctuated between cooperation to enmity. Since the 19th century, the two nations have always had a complicated relationship. While Turkey and Saudi Arabia are major economic partners,Saudi Arabia/Turkey: Turkish Trade Minister commends Saudi-Turkish relations International Islamic News Agency, 8 February 2010 the two have periods of friendly and tense political relationship, stemming partially from the historic enmity. Currently, relations between the two countries have grown significantly stronger, despite their differing geopolitical interests.
Saudi Arabia has an embassy in Ankara and a consulate general in Istanbul, and Turkey has an embassy in Riyadh and a consulate general in Jeddah. Both countries are members of the World Trade Organization, G20 and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.
According to a 2013 Pew global opinion poll, 26% of Turks express a favourable view of Saudi Arabia while 53% express an unfavourable view.Saudi Arabia’s Image Falters among Middle East Neighbors Pew Research Global Attitudes Project After the Arab Spring, tensions between Saudi Arabia and Turkey mounted, with an increasing proxy conflict emerging between the two states. The relations began to significantly recover after the end of the Qatar diplomatic crisis, driven by mutual interests in countering Iranian influence. Bilateral relations subsequently improved following the signing of the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement, a trilateral pact established on August 7, 2026, between Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey.
Historical background Historically, the relationship between Turkey and Saudi Arabia has always varied between cooperation and distrust to uncertainty and rapprochement. This is because of the historical enmity between the two nations dated from the Ottoman era.
In the 19th century, the Ottomans entered into a serious conflict with House of Saud, the first Saudi state which resulted in the Ottoman–Saudi War. The war is seen in Saudi Arabia as the first attempt to create an independent state from the Ottoman Empire, while in Turkey, it is often considered to be the war against the Salafi movement. This led to a brutal military reprisal by the Ottoman rulers, which saw the destruction of the First Saudi State and the executions of many religious leaders of the Saudis. For this reason, there is an eternal enmity between the Turks and the Saudis, which is reflected by recent revisionist campaigns in both countries. The Ottoman Empire's collapse following the World War I would eventually lead to the Saudi resurgence and future establishment of modern Saudi Arabia.
The Hashimite rulers of the Hejaz pledged allegiance to the Ottoman Sultan in 1517 following the Ottoman conquest of Egypt, placing the holy cities of Mecca and Medina under Ottoman Protection until the Arab revolt in 1916 when Sharif Hussayn of Mecca expelled them with the aid of Britain. This success was short-lived however, and soon the Saudis expelled the Hashemites from both cities and most of the Hejaz; reducing Hashemite's hegemony to the modern Kingdom of Jordan (though Hashemite monarchs ruled Iraq for several decades in the mid 20th century).
Modern history
Early beginnings In October 1926, Shevket Bey arrived in Jeddah (within the Saudi-ruled Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd) as the first "Diplomatic Representative of the Turkish Republic". On presenting his papers, Bey "recalled the old associations, based on brotherhood and co-operation, which formerly existed between Turks and Arabs, and said he hoped that such noble memories would find new expression in the revived friendship between the two governments". However, privately he considered the country "savage" and its inhabitants "nothing less than barbarians", and lamented the "evil day" that brought him to the Hejaz.
Formal relations between Turkey and Saudi Arabia began in 1932, after the creation of the new Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. At the first stage of the relations, Saudi Arabia and Turkey shared a cordial relationship as Turkish leader Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was interested in keeping Turkey safe and friendly with the international community, and tried to avoid religious discord.Turkey-GCC Relations: trends and outlook The Oxford Gulf & Arabian Peninsula Studies Forum. 2015. Retrieved 1 May 2021 Both Turkey and Saudi Arabia maintained neutrality during World War II.
In the 1950s, during the Cold War, Turkey joined the short-lived Baghdad Pact, an anti-communist military alliance, while Saudi Arabia, despite also sharing similar views, declined to participate and criticized the pact for its ineffectiveness to deal with the Soviet Union.The probable consequences US adherence or non-adherence to the Baghdad Pact CIA 1956. Retrieved 21 May 2021
With the eruption of Iranian Revolution in 1979 and subsequent Iran–Iraq War, both Turkey and Saudi Arabia were the main supporters of Saddam Hussein's Iraq, albeit Turkey quietly supported Iraq and was skeptical to the Shia clergy ruling Iran despite maintaining a neutral face, while Saudi Arabia openly supported Iraq with lethal weapons and finance.Gerd Nonneman. (2004).The Gulf States and the Iran-Iraq War: Pattern Shifts and Continuities In Iran, Iraq, and the Legacies of War. Retrieved 21 May 2021 In April 1979, Saudi Arabia provided financial assistance ($250 million) to Turkey to help the latter's attempts to overcome the ongoing economical and financial crisis.
In 1991, with the outbreak of Gulf War, Turkey and Saudi Arabia supported the United States against Iraq, although Turkey didn't participate in the coalition, Ankara opened its air space to aid the coalition, while Saudi Arabia was part of the coalition. Also in the 1990s decade, Turkey and Saudi Arabia were sympathetic to the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria against Russia, but did not recognize it.Matthew Hedges. (May 2013).Strategic Balancing and Power Play in the North Caucasus - International Implications of the Rise of Chechnya Under Kadyrov
Both Ankara and Riyadh were not friendly to Saddam's Iraq. In 2003, however, both Turkey and Saudi Arabia openly opposed the invasion of Iraq.
Since 2010s From friend to foe Turkey and Saudi Arabia initially found themselves in alliance when the Arab Spring erupted, mostly because of the Syrian civil war as Ankara and Riyadh were openly opposing Bashar al-Assad, and thus Saudi Arabia and Turkey both financed various anti-Assad forces in the conflict hoping to drive the Syrian dictator out. However, Turkey also demonstrated support for Muslim Brotherhood (MB), which was opposed by Saudi Arabia, and this had created an uneasy sentiment among Riyadh. In 2013, the Egyptian coup broke out when MB member and then-President of Egypt, Mohamed Morsi, was forcibly removed by pro-Saudi Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Turkey had condemned the move, but it was the first sign of divergence between Ankara and Riyadh.
In October 2014, Saudi Arabia successfully campaigned against a Turkish bid for non-permanent membership of the United Nations Security Council due to Saudi opposition to the Turkish stance on the MB.
Qatar diplomatic crisis and the beginning of the tensions Due to the 2017 Qatar diplomatic crisis, the relationship between Turkey and Saudi Arabia faced problems, with Turkey supporting Qatar against Saudi Arabia in the ongoing diplomatic dispute.
Geoeconomics expert M. Nicolas J. Firzli has argued that the Turkish government has sought to use the crisis to its own advantage, by advancing an expansionist Neo-Ottoman agenda at the expense of the Gulf Cooperation Council:
Saudi Arabia, in response, has threatened to impose sanctions against Turkey, and has conducted discussions with the UAE on the topic of curbing "Turkish expansionist policy". In turn, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan accused Saudi Arabia of being non-Islamic and heretics.
On 1 March 2018, Saudi Arabia's MBC channels stopped broadcasting Turkish soap operas dubbed in Arabic to achieve the highest Arab interest.
In March 2018, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman referred to Turkey as part of a "triangle of evil" alongside Iran and Muslim Brotherhood.
In August 2018, Turkey backed Saudi Arabia in its dispute with Canada, rejecting the Canadian actions as a "form of interference in other countries’ internal affairs".
Murder of Jamal Khashoggi On 2 October 2018, Saudi journalist and The Washington Post writer Jamal Khashoggi was killed in the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul; the move was considered as a turning point on the future hostility between Turkey and Saudi Arabia. It has been widely alleged that he was killed by the Saudi government, including by Erdogan—although Erdogan at first refrained from criticizing Saudi Arabia directly and instead suggested the blame lies with Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman.
After the incident, Prince Mohammad rejected the concept of a rift with Turkey, stating, "Many are trying to … drive a wedge between Saudi Arabia and Turkey. … They will not be able to do it as long as there is a King Salman, a Mohammad bin Salman and a President Erdogan."
Almost a month after Khashoggi's death, Erdogan directly accused the Saudi government of murdering the journalist. Erdogan said, "We know that the order to kill Khashoggi came from the highest levels of the Saudi government." He also said that "the puppet masters behind Khashoggi's killing" would be exposed. Yasin Aktay, a Turkish official and adviser to Erdogan believes Khashoggi's body was dissolved in acid after being dismembered. He said, "The reason they dismembered Khashoggi's body was to dissolve his remains more easily. Now we see that they did not only dismember his body but also vaporised it."
Further deterioration Turkey and Saudi Arabia also clash for influence regarding other Muslim countries, notably Sudan. Sudan was once a former ally of Iran, but has cut off relations with Iran since 2015 to support Saudi Arabia's war efforts in Yemen. However, Sudanese fear of Saudi Arabian influence facilitated then-dictator Omar al-Bashir to get closer to Turkey, resulting in the lease of Suakin to Turkish contractors. According from Turkish media, Saudi Arabia has been deeply skeptical over Turkish presence in Sudan, out of fear that Turkey is attempting to take Sudan away from Saudi influence and threaten Saudi Arabia's security.
Saudi Arabia condemned the 2019 Turkish offensive into north-eastern Syria. In response, Erdogan criticised the death toll in the Saudi-led intervention in the Yemeni civil war.
The movie Kingdoms of Fire, aired by MBC in 2019, was partially financed by Saudi Arabia, further exacerbated by the portrayal of the Ottoman Turks as violent, ruthless and uncivilized people. This had drawn criticism in Turkey.
Turkey and Saudi Arabia have also clashed vying for influence in the Libyan Civil War. Turkey has been throwing significant support to the Islamist-backed Government of National Accord in Tripoli, but Saudi Arabia, along with Egypt and the UAE, has supported Khalifa Haftar's House of Representatives in Tobruk. The Turkish actions has gained minor diplomatic support from Iran, which deepened the mistrust with Saudi Arabia.
The 2020 Baghdad International Airport airstrike, where Iranian general Qasem Soleimani was assassinated by the United States, had revealed the complicated nature of the relationship between Saudi Arabia and Turkey, with both countries secretly approving the airstrike with hope to remove a grave threat from Iran to both countries' ambitions in the Middle East.
In February 2020, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir accused Turkey of financing and sponsoring the "extremist militias" in Somalia, Libya and Syria, Saudi Arabia also moved to block all Turkish websites in Saudi Arabia. In response, Ankara announced it would block all Saudi and Emirati websites in the country.