Ankara and Abu Dhabi appear to be mending relations as each leaders promise elevated regional cooperation.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is ready to go to the United Arab Emirates for the primary time in practically a decade, as ties enhance between the 2 nations.
Talking at a information convention on the Ataturk Airport in Istanbul on Monday, the president mentioned the go to will goal to form the following 50 years of “friendship and brotherhood with the UAE”.
“We don’t think about the safety and stability of all brotherly nations within the Gulf area separate from our personal,” Erdogan mentioned.
With buying and selling volumes approaching $8bn, the UAE is amongst Turkey’s main buying and selling companions, he mentioned, noting that “The UAE is the Tenth-largest market of the abroad contracting sector in Turkey.”
Erdogan’s go to – the primary since 2013 – “opens a brand new, optimistic web page in bilateral relations”, Anwar Gargash, adviser to the UAE president, mentioned in a tweet.
زيارة الرئيس رجب طيب اردوغان الى دولة الامارات والتي تأتي بعد زيارة الشيخ محمد بن زايد آل نهيان إلى الجمهورية التركية، تفتح صفحة إيجابية جديدة في العلاقات الثنائية بين البلدين، وتنسجم مع توجه الامارات نحو تعزيز جسور التواصل والتعاون الهادفة إلى الاستقرار والازدهار في المنطقة.
— د. أنور قرقاش (@AnwarGargash) February 13, 2022
Translation: The go to by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to the UAE, which comes after the go to by Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan to the Turkish republic, opens a brand new, optimistic web page in bilateral relations between the 2 nations and is in concord with the UAE’s Efforts to construct stronger communication and cooperation bridges that goal in the direction of a steady, flourishing area.
Abdul Khaleq Abdallah, a political science professor within the UAE, tweeted on Sunday that the 2 nations ought to goal to bolster a “strategic political partnership”.
For years, relations have been strained between Turkey and the energy-rich UAE as each nations backed opposing sides in regional conflicts and sparred on different points equivalent to fuel exploration within the japanese Mediterranean.
However tensions eased after Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed traveled to Ankara in November on the first high-level go to since 2012.
Following that go to, the UAE introduced a $10bn fund for investments in Turkey, the place the economic system has been reeling and inflation surged to a close to 20-year excessive in January.
The 2 nations additionally signed 10 safety, financial and technological agreements, in accordance with the official UAE information company WAM.
‘Stability and safety’
Erdogan’s go to comes because the UAE faces a rising menace from Yemen’s Houthi rebels, who’ve in latest weeks launched a collection of drone and missile assaults on the Gulf nation and prompted elevated protection cooperation with the USA and France.
Ties between Turkey and the UAE have been significantly tense after Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain lower all hyperlinks with Qatar – an in depth ally of Ankara – in 2017. Relations have been restored in January 2021.
Erdogan has since final 12 months sought to enhance Turkey’s ties with regional rivals within the face of harsh isolation that has prompted international funding to dry up – significantly from the West.
In an op-ed printed within the Emirati English-language every day Khaleej Occasions this weekend, he mentioned Turkey wished to advance cooperation with the UAE on a number of fronts, together with “local weather change, water, and meals safety”.
“This cooperation may have optimistic reflections not solely in bilateral relations but in addition on the regional degree,” he wrote.
Erdogan additionally mentioned he believes the 2 nations are capable of contribute to regional peace, stability, and prosperity.