Turkey's President Erdogan visits Saudi Arabia

As per reports by Reuters, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan plans to visit Saudi Arabia on Thursday and meet Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, as Turkey tries to fix ties with Riyadh after dropping a legal case on the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul. The bilateral relations between both nations have been tense since a Saudi hit team killed Khashoggi at the kingdom’s Istanbul consulate in 2018. According to a statement from the Erdogan office, the meeting between the supreme leaders of Turkey and Saudi Arabia will focus on measures of increasing cooperation. Both of them will express their opinions and views on regional and international issues.

Earlier this month, the decision to transfer the prosecution to Saudi Arabia removed the last stumbling block to renewed Turkey-Saudi ties, in particular in Erdogan’s relationship with de-facto Saudi ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. In a U.S. intelligence report released a year ago, the killing of Khashoggi in the kingdom’s Istanbul consulate sparked global outrage and put pressure on the prince, who was said to have approved the operation to kill or capture Khashoggi, The Saudi government has always denied any involvement by the prince.