![Saudi prince visits Turkey for talks clouded by Khashoggi murder](https://www.berlinertageblatt.de/media/shared/articles/05/3b/32/Saudi-prince-visits-Turkey-for-talk-415405.jpg)
-
Concern grows as Venezuela blocks election observers
-
'Massive attack' on French rail threatens more chaos
-
'We did it!': France breathes sigh of relief after Olympics ceremony
-
Blinken, in Laos, set for talks with Chinese foreign minister
-
Regional concern grows as Venezuela blocks vote observers
-
Historic river parade, Dion show-stopper ignite Paris Olympics
-
Rainy Paris Olympic parade dampens many spectators' spirits
-
G20 pledges to work together to tax ultra-rich
-
The one of a kind Paris opening ceremony: five memorable moments
-
Justin Timberlake seeks to dismiss DUI case
-
Warner Brothers Discovery sues NBA over Amazon rights deal
-
Kobe Bryant locker, Maradona jersey up for auction in New York
-
Historic river parade launches Paris Olympics
-
Stocks rise as US inflation data boosts rate cut hopes
-
New York family of Holocaust victim reclaims Nazi-looted art
-
NASA Mars rover captures rock that could hold fossilized microbes
-
Thousands evacuate season's biggest wildfire in northern California
-
Sinaloa Cartel co-founder pleads not guilty after stunning US capture
-
Ethiopia mourns victims of landslide tragedy
-
Lady Gaga adds sparkle to star-studded Olympic show
-
Airbus and Boeing supremacy secure despite turbulence
-
Teams sail down Seine in rain-soaked Olympics opening ceremony
-
Norris hoping for more after topping Belgian practice times
-
West Indies' treble strike rocks England in third Test
-
Trump slams rivals as he meets Netanyahu in Florida
-
Olympic opening ceremony under way on River Seine
-
Mott's England future uncertain as ECB chief fails to offer support
-
Trump meets Israeli PM Netanyahu in Florida
-
S.African police say 95 Libyans detained at suspected military camp
-
Blinken set for talks with Chinese counterpart in Laos
-
Norris heads Piastri in McLaren one-two at Belgian GP practice
-
G20 seeks common ground on taxing super-rich
-
European medicines watchdog rejects new Alzheimer's drug
-
Harris gets vital Obama backing in battle against Trump
-
Habib, Ebden eye Alcaraz and Djokovic shocks at Olympics tennis
-
Stocks rise as inflation data boosts rate cut hopes
-
Long queues, ticketing problems ahead of Paris opening ceremony
-
Two Sinaloa Cartel leaders face US charges after stunning capture
-
Spain train driver jailed for 2.5 years over deadly 2013 crash
-
Paris poised for Olympic opening ceremony spectacular
-
Judoka fails doping test in first case at Paris Olympics
-
Holder and Da Silva keep England at bay after West Indies collapse
-
Alpine F1 boss Bruno Famin to leave in August
-
Ethiopia declares three days of mourning after landslide tragedy
-
Brazilian dunes dotted with dazzling pools make UNESCO heritage list
-
Rain, cooling slow huge blaze in Canada's Jasper park
-
French Rugby's Jaminet suspended 34 weeks after racist video: Federation
-
Osaka looking to turbo-charge comeback at Paris Olympics
-
Stock markets climb as US inflation rate drops
-
Russian central bank hikes key rate to fight inflation
![Saudi prince visits Turkey for talks clouded by Khashoggi murder](https://www.berlinertageblatt.de/media/shared/articles/05/3b/32/Saudi-prince-visits-Turkey-for-talk-415405.jpg)
Saudi prince visits Turkey for talks clouded by Khashoggi murder
Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler took a big step out of international isolation Wednesday, paying his first visit to Sunni rival Turkey since the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the kingdom's Istanbul consulate.
The talks in Ankara between Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan come one month before US President Joe Biden visits Riyadh for a regional summit. Those talks will focus on the energy crunch caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
President Erdogan's decision to revive ties with one of his biggest rivals is driven in large part by economics and trade.
Turks' living standards are imploding a year before a general election that poses one of the biggest challenges of Erdogan's mercurial two-decade rule.
It was his Islamic-rooted government that released gruesome details of the Khashoggi murder, including allegations that his body had been dismembered and dissolved in acid.
But it is now drumming up investment and central bank assistance from the very countries it opposed on ideological grounds in the wake of the Arab Spring revolts.
- 'Swallowing his pride'
"I think this is probably one of the most significant visits to Ankara by a foreign leader in almost a decade," said The Washington Institute's Turkey specialist Soner Cagaptay.
"Erdogan is all about Erdogan. He's all about winning elections and I think he has decided to kind of swallow his pride."
The Turkish leader personally welcomed the crown prince at his presidential palace at a grand ceremony featuring parade horses and a military honour guard.
They are scheduled to hold a private dinner but no joint press conference.
Analysts believe Prince Mohammed will be looking to see if he can win broader backing ahead of a possible new nuclear agreement between world powers and the Saudis' arch-enemy Iran.
"There is increased confidence (in Riyadh) that Ankara could be more useful in the current geopolitical environment," the Eurasia Group said in a research note.
Turkey's rapprochement with the Saudis began with an Istanbul court decision in April to break off the trial in absentia of 26 suspects accused of links to Khashoggi's killing and to transfer the case to Riyadh.
US intelligence officials have determined that Prince Mohammed approved the plot against Khashoggi -- which Riyadh denies.
- 'His bones would ache'
The court's decision drew protests from Khashoggi's Turkish fiancee Hatice Cengiz. On Wednesday, she told AFP she viewed the summit as "unacceptable".
"If Jamal had a tomb, his bones would ache," said Cengiz.
But the Istanbul ruling paved the way for a politically sensitive visit to Saudi Arabia by Erdogan just three weeks later.
The kingdom's state media ended up releasing a picture of Erdogan hugging the crown prince, an image that created a furore in Turkey.
"He gets off the plane and hugs the killers," fumed Turkey's opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu.
Ankara expects the mending of fences to help prop up the Turkish economy at a crucial stage of Erdogan's rule.
A Turkish official said the sides would discuss a range of issues, including cooperation between banks and support for small- and medium-sized businesses.
- Lack of trust -
Erdogan's unconventional economic approach has set off an inflationary spiral that has seen consumer prices almost double in the past year.
Analysts believe the resulting drop in Erdogan's public approval and depletion of state reserves mean the Turkish leader can ill afford to maintain his hostile stance toward petrodollar-rich Gulf states.
Turkey's problems with the Saudis began when Erdogan refused to accept Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's ouster of the Muslim Brotherhood from power in Cairo in 2013.
The Saudis and other Arab kingdoms viewed the Brotherhood as an existential threat.
Those rivalries intensified after Turkey tried to break the nearly four-year blockade the Saudis and their allies had imposed on Qatar in 2017.
Analysts believe that Washington is watching this gradual return of regional calm with an approving nod.
"Encouraged by the United States, this rapprochement is relaxing tensions and building diplomacy across the region," said the US-based Middle East Institute's Turkish scholar Gonul Tol.
The crown prince "will not easily forget the attitude adopted by Turkey after the Khashoggi affair", she said.
C.Meier--BTB