Turkey's good relations with Qatar may not be enough for Erdogan
Erdogan’s Qatar visit failed to produce agreements that could help the ailing Turkish economy, but he wants to maintain Turkey’s partnership with Qatar, including military ties, while making efforts to reconcile with Gulf rivals.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has paid a visit to Qatar – a country he sees as a foul-weather friend – amid the dramatic depreciation of the Turkish lira, a worsening hard-currency crunch and popular fears of a fire sale of national assets at home. The Dec. 6-7 visit, which took place against the backdrop of Turkey’s efforts to break its regional isolation and mend fences with Egypt, Israel and Gulf heavyweights, yielded 15 bilateral accords.
However, the deals are of little economic worth, envisioning cooperation in areas such as emergency response and civil defense, diplomacy, culture, healthcare, religious affairs, the media and the academy. Although such an outcome may have disappointed Erdogan, it does not eclipse the Qatari investments in Turkey since the country’s currency crisis erupted in 2018 amid political tensions with Washington.
The most recent Qatari investment was in a $102 million zinc plant inaugurated Dec. 4 in the southeastern province of Siirt. The venture plans to establish more mineral plants worth $500 million by 2023. Qatar pledged $15 billion worth of direct investments in Turkey in 2018. In another gesture of support, Qatar last year tripled its currency swap agreement with Turkey to $15 billion.
Speaking ahead of Erdogan’s visit, Turkey’s ambassador to Qatar said Qatari investments in Turkey have hit $33.2 billion, while Turkish investments in Qatar have reached $32 billion. Turkish contractors have assumed projects worth $18.6 billion in Qatar, but their earnings are bound to decline as Qatar completes construction projects for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
