Turkey President Erdogan holds telephonic conversation with UAE's Mohammed bin Zayed

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan recently held a phone conversation with the United Arab Emirates’ de facto leader Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed. On Monday, the Turkish presidency released a readout of the conversation informing that both the leaders touched upon a variety of topics including the bilateral relations between both the countries and other regional issues and Ankara’s support for ‘Turkish Brotherhood’. 

"In a phone call, the two leaders exchanged views over a number of international and regional issues of interest, Saudi’s WAM news agency said. 

Turkey improves ties with UAE

Experts have touted that the meeting could serve as a possible thaw between the regional adversaries. Ankara and Riyadh have been trading barbs over a variety of issues including their conflicting support in Libya’s civil war. However, over the recent years, Turkey has considerably improved its ties with its  Gulf adversaries including UAE and Saudi Arabia. The meeting comes two weeks after the Turkish president met with UAE National Security Adviser Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Nahyan and pledged to make progress in improving relations.

On 18 August, although, embarking on a new era of enduring conciliatory rhetoric, President Erdoğan received Emirates' National Security Adviser and the two headed to the Presidential Complex in Ankara for talks. Even as Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu had earlier asserted that there was “no reason” to mend ties with the United Arab Emirates even if UAE took a “positive step”, the Turkish leader, on Wednesday, argued that the instability in the regional diplomacy with allies and partners was “normal.” This comes after decades of Ankara’s scathing attacks against the UAE lambasting its regional policies, which Turkey stated, were “absolutely not friendly.” 

In the rare de-escalation of the UAE-Turkey rivalry on Wednesday, Erdogan and UAE’s Zayed al Nahyan discussed bilateral and regional developments with a key focus on cooperation and economic partnerships between the two Islamic middle eastern nations, Turkey’s Communications Directorate revealed in an official statement. Former foreign minister and diplomatic adviser to the UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al Nahyan, Anwar Gargash, hailed the meeting as “historic and positive” on his official Twitter handle.

(Image: AP)