Intel: Saudi Arabia seeks Turkey’s drones, Erdogan says
Riyadh's request could provide an opening for Ankara, which is also seeking to repair ties with Egypt.
Saudi Arabia wants to buy armed drones from Turkey, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Monday in the latest potential sign of a thaw between the two governments.
Ankara and Riyadh all but ceased cooperation on regional matters as ties soured following the state-sanctioned murder of dissident Saudi journalist and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi inside Riyadh’s consulate in Istanbul in 2018.
Still, Erdogan criticized Riyadh today for taking part in joint military exercises with Greece, Turkey’s main rival in the eastern Mediterranean. Turkish officials have slammed Saudi Arabia’s attendance at a forum in Athens in February featuring defense ministers from France, Greece, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
Those countries have sought mutual defense and economic cooperation in the eastern Mediterranean in response to Ankara’s ambitions regarding hydrocarbon rights there, as well as its involvement in war-torn Libya.
