By Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday visited the United Arab Emirates for the first time in almost 10 years, to restore relations that were long strained by provincial disputes.
He was welcomed in the capital Abu Dhabi by Crown Prince Sheik Mohammed container Zayed Al-Nahyan, the UAE’s true ruler, who had gone to Ankara in November on the principal significant level visit to Turkey since 2012.
That trip “denoted the start of a new era in relations,” Erdogan said at the Istanbul air terminal prior to leaving for his two-day visit. “We are intending to return steps that will carry relations to the level they merit.”
Ties had been strained as Turkey and the oil-rich Emirates moved rival sides in the Libyan civil conflict and fought over issues like gas inquiry in the eastern Mediterranean.
Relations were especially tense after Saudi Arabia, the Emirates and, Bahrain in 2017 cut all links with Qatar, a nearby partner of Ankara. Those relations were reestablished in January 2021.
The Turkish president’s UAE visit is his first since 2013, when he was state leader, and his first as head of state.
To welcome Erdogan on his outing – which will take him to the Expo 2020 Dubai world fair Tuesday – the host country illuminated the world’s tallest building, Burj Khalifa, in the red and white of the Turkish flag.
Erdogan and Sheik Mohammed talked about opportunities for collaboration, especially in the financial and improvement fields, and the most recent regional developments.
The crown ruler said the UAE was quick to help out Turkey “to face various normal difficulties that the district is seeing” through exchange and strategic purpose.
The Emirates face a developing danger from Yemen’s Iran-backed Huthi rebels, who have sent off a few drones and missile attacks on the Gulf country, provoking moved forward UAE safeguard collaboration with the United States and France.
Erdogan said at an end-of-the-week commentary in the Emirati English-language day by day Khaleej Times that “Turkey and the UAE together can add to provincial harmony, steadiness and thriving”.
Following Sheik Mohammed’s visit in November, the UAE reported a $10 billion asset for interests in Turkey, where the economy has been faltering and expansion last month flooded to a close to a 20-year high.
During this visit, Erdogan was expected to consent to 12 arrangements with UAE accomplices, going from media and interchanges to monetary and safeguard bargains, Turkish media reports said.
The Turkish president in his commentary additionally said he needed to work all the more intimately with the UAE on a few fronts, including handling “environmental change, water, and food security”.
