Riyadh rejects Turkish base
Turkey FM in Saudi talks Reporters held
Saudi Arabia said yesterday a Turkish military base similar to that built in neighboring Qatar would not be welcome in the kingdom, insisting it is “not needed”. The statement came after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reportedly said he had offered to build a military base in the Muslim kingdom shortly after work began on Turkey’s facility in Qatar. Ankara is at the forefront of efforts to defuse a diplomatic crisis that led Saudi Arabia, UAE and Bahrain, as well as Egypt and other countries, to sever ties with Qatar, which is a strong ally of Ankara.
“The kingdom cannot allow Turkey to set up a military base on its territory,” said a statement carried by SPA state news agency. The statement, quoting an unnamed official, said Saudi Arabia “does not need such thing”, adding that its armed forces and military capabilities were “at the best standards”. The official said Saudi armed forces were participating abroad, including from Turkey’s Incirlik base, “in the fight against terrorism and protecting security and stability in the region”.
Erdogan told Portuguese television this week that he had approached the Gulf state’s King Salman “with the same idea for Saudi” after work began on the base in Qatar in 2014. “I made the same offer to King Salman... and said that if it’s appropriate we could also establish a base in Saudi Arabia. They said they would look into it but since that day nothing more came,” he said. The Turkish parliament approved the deployment of troops to the base in Qatar only two days after the Gulf crisis broke out earlier this month.
On Friday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu held talks with King Salman as part of Ankara’s efforts to resolve the Gulf crisis. Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, Egypt and others severed ties with Qatar, accusing it of supporting extremist groups, including some backed by Iran. Asked by Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency if the talks had found a solution, Cavusoglu replied: “No. There are other countries involved... It’s very complicated at the moment.”
Cavusoglu said he told the Saudi king that “it would be useful now to soften the conditions” against Qatar. He had passed on a message for Salman from Erdogan that “we expect (the king) to find a solution in a worthy way. We are also prepared to contribute.” Cavusoglu travelled to the holy city of Makkah, where King Salman is based for the last days of Ramadan, after meeting his Kuwaiti counterpart on Thursday. HH the Amir of Kuwait, which did not cut ties with Qatar, has also been trying to mediate. Turkey’s chief diplomat was in Doha on Wednesday where he called for dialogue after meeting Qatar’s emir and foreign minister ahead of his Saudi stop.
“Although the kingdom is a party in this crisis, we know that King Salman is a party in resolving it,” Cavusoglu said earlier. “We want to hear the views of Saudi Arabia regarding possible solutions and will share with them our views in a transparent way... We pay a great attention to our relations with them,” he said. The crisis has put Turkey in a delicate position as Ankara regards Qatar as its chief ally in the Gulf but is also keen to maintain its improving ties with regional power Saudi Arabia. At the same time, Turkey is eager to maintain workable relations with Iran, Saudi Arabia’s foe.
Meanwhile, reports said yesterday Saudi Arabia detained two Pakistani reporters for Turkey’s staterun English language channel TRT World for some 10 hours during a visit by the Turkish foreign minister, before releasing them. Correspondent Hasan Abdullah and cameraman Nihat Yayman, who were covering the talks, were detained by Saudi authorities at their hotel but then released after Cavusoglu personally intervened with the Saudi king, the Hurriyet daily said.
Abdullah said in a statement the pair “were detained from our hotel by Saudi police in Makkah after a live analysis” on the crisis with Qatar. “The ordeal lasted nearly 10 hours during which we faced multiple interrogations and lock-up,” he said, expressing gratitude to the Turkish authorities for solving the issue. There was no immediate indication over why they had been detained or if it directly concerned their reporting from the kingdom. Hurriyet said they were freed on the instructions of the Saudi king after Cavusoglu brought up the issue. The pair are now heading back to Turkey. —Agencies