Turkey’s Erdogan heads to Saudi Arabia for talks with MBS, Pakistan’s Sharif

ANKARA — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will travel to Saudi Arabia on Friday for talks with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif as cooperation among the three regional powers continues to deepen.

During his day-long working visit, Erdogan is expected to take part in a three-way meeting with Prince Mohammed and Sharif, Turkish presidential communications chief Burhanettin Duran said Thursday. 

Sharif arrived in Saudi Arabia on Thursday for a three-day official visit accompanied by Pakistan’s military chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, and a senior delegation, with regional security and defense cooperation expected to feature prominently in his talks.

While Ankara has not disclosed a meeting agenda, the three leaders are expected to focus on regional security, maritime threats, the Iran war and defense cooperation.

Background: Erdogan’s visit comes a week after Saudi Arabia unveiled a multinational maritime defense coalition aimed at protecting commercial shipping and energy routes in the Red Sea, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden amid mounting threats from Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels.

NATO member Turkey and nuclear-armed Pakistan were among 14 countries that formally backed the Saudi-led initiative. 

Ankara stopped short of announcing it would assume any role in the coalition, but Turkey last month condemned Houthi threats to blockade Saudi Arabia and expressed solidarity with Riyadh over threats to navigation in the Red Sea.

The trip also follows Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan’s meeting with Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar and Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan in Amman for the fifth meeting of the four-country coalition.

The so-called R-4 mechanism emerged following meetings in Riyadh in March, as Turkey, Egypt, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia sought to coordinate efforts to contain the fallout from the US-Iran war, advance diplomatic initiatives and address wider regional security challenges.

Why it matters: In addition to coordination amid the Iran war, deeper coordination with Riyadh and Islamabad offers Ankara a way to increase its influence in a volatile region shaken by the fragile Gaza ceasefire process and widening rivalry in the region. 

Turkey is seeking broader regional backing to increase pressure on Israel amid an intensifying rivalry between the two eastern Mediterranean powers, with Ankara deeming Israeli actions in the region and its expanding regional footprint as destabilizing.

Speaking at a joint news conference with his Syrian counterpart, Asaad al-Shibani, in Ankara earlier Thursday, Fidan described Israel as among the “first and foremost actors undermining regional stability and pursuing expansionist ambitions.”

Know more: The growing regional coordination also comes as Turkey seeks to increase defense exports and expand joint production with Gulf monarchies.

In 2023, Saudi Arabia signed a major drone procurement agreement with Turkish defense company Baykar, followed by a 2024 deal paving the way for UAV production, technology transfer and personnel training in the kingdom. Together, the agreements marked Turkey’s largest-ever defense export package. 

In February, the two countries also signed a deal laying the groundwork for joint production of Turkey’s Gokbey utility helicopter, amid ongoing talks on possible Saudi participation in Turkey’s KAAN fifth-generation fighter jet program. 

Bilateral trade between Turkey and Saudi Arabia reached $8.5 billion by the end of 2025, according to official Turkish data, as defense cooperation emerged as a key pillar of the rapidly improving relationship between Ankara and Riyadh. 

Erdogan last visited Saudi Arabia in February, when he held talks with Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh before traveling to Egypt the following day.