Early beginnings Relations between Turkey and Saudi Arabia began in 1932, after the creation of the new Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. At the first stage of the relations, Saudi Arabia and Turkey shared a cordial relationship as Turkish leader
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was interested in keeping Turkey safe and friendly with the international community, and tried to avoid religious discord. Both Turkey and Saudi Arabia maintained neutrality during
World War II. In the 1950s, during the
Cold War, Turkey joined the short-lived
Baghdad Pact, an anti-communist military alliance, while Saudi Arabia, despite also sharing similar views, declined to participate and criticized the pact for its ineffectiveness to deal with the
Soviet Union. With the eruption of
Iranian Revolution in 1979 and subsequent
Iran–Iraq War, both Turkey and Saudi Arabia were the main supporters of
Saddam Hussein's Iraq, albeit Turkey quietly supported Iraq and was skeptical to the Shia clergy ruling Iran despite maintaining a neutral face, while Saudi Arabia openly supported Iraq with lethal weapons and finance. In April 1979, Saudi Arabia provided financial assistance ($250 million) to Turkey to help the latter's attempts to overcome the ongoing economical and financial crisis. In 1991, with the outbreak of
Gulf War, Turkey and Saudi Arabia supported the United States against Iraq, although Turkey didn't participate in the coalition, Ankara opened its air space to aid the coalition, while Saudi Arabia was part of the coalition. Also in the 1990s decade, Turkey and Saudi Arabia were sympathetic to the
Chechen Republic of Ichkeria against Russia, but did not recognize it. Both Ankara and Riyadh were not friendly to Saddam's Iraq. In 2003, however, both Turkey and Saudi Arabia openly opposed the
invasion of Iraq. However, Turkey also demonstrated support for
Muslim Brotherhood (MB), which was opposed by Saudi Arabia, and this had created an uneasy sentiment among Riyadh. In 2013, the
Egyptian coup broke out when MB member and then-President of Egypt,
Mohamed Morsi, was forcibly removed by pro-Saudi
Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Turkey had condemned the move, but it was the first sign of divergence between Ankara and Riyadh. In October 2014, Saudi Arabia successfully campaigned against a Turkish bid for non-permanent membership of the
United Nations Security Council due to Saudi opposition to the Turkish stance on the MB.
Qatar diplomatic crisis and the beginning of the tensions Due to the
2017 Qatar diplomatic crisis, the relationship between Turkey and Saudi Arabia faced problems, with Turkey supporting
Qatar against Saudi Arabia in the ongoing diplomatic dispute. Geoeconomics expert M. Nicolas J. Firzli has argued that the Turkish government has sought to use the crisis to its own advantage, by advancing an
expansionist Neo-Ottoman agenda at the expense of the
Gulf Cooperation Council: Saudi Arabia, in response, has threatened to impose sanctions against Turkey, and has conducted discussions with the
UAE on the topic of curbing "Turkish expansionist policy". In turn, Turkish President
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan accused Saudi Arabia of being non-Islamic and
heretics. On 1 March 2018, Saudi Arabia's
MBC channels stopped broadcasting
Turkish soap operas
dubbed in Arabic to achieve the highest Arab interest. In March 2018, Saudi Crown Prince
Mohammad bin Salman referred to Turkey as part of a "triangle of evil" alongside
Iran and Muslim Brotherhood. In August 2018, Turkey backed Saudi Arabia in its
dispute with Canada, rejecting the Canadian actions as a "form of interference in other countries’ internal affairs".
Murder of Jamal Khashoggi On 2 October 2018, Saudi journalist and
The Washington Post writer
Jamal Khashoggi was
killed in the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul; the move was considered as a turning point on the future hostility between Turkey and Saudi Arabia. It has been widely alleged that he was killed by the Saudi government, including by Erdogan—although Erdogan at first refrained from criticizing Saudi Arabia directly and instead suggested the blame lies with
Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman. After the incident, Prince Mohammad rejected the concept of a rift with Turkey, stating, "Many are trying to … drive a wedge between Saudi Arabia and Turkey. … They will not be able to do it as long as there is a King Salman, a Mohammad bin Salman and a President Erdogan." Almost a month after Khashoggi's death, Erdogan directly accused the Saudi government of murdering the journalist. Erdogan said, "We know that the order to kill Khashoggi came from the highest levels of the Saudi government." He also said that "the puppet masters behind Khashoggi's killing" would be exposed.
Yasin Aktay, a Turkish official and adviser to Erdogan believes Khashoggi's body was dissolved in acid after being dismembered. He said, "The reason they dismembered Khashoggi's body was to dissolve his remains more easily. Now we see that they did not only dismember his body but also vaporised it."
Further deterioration Turkey and Saudi Arabia also clash for influence regarding other Muslim countries, notably
Sudan. Sudan was once a former ally of Iran, but has cut off relations with Iran since 2015 to support Saudi Arabia's war efforts in Yemen. However, Sudanese fear of Saudi Arabian influence facilitated then-dictator
Omar al-Bashir to get closer to Turkey, resulting in the lease of
Suakin to Turkish contractors. According from Turkish media, Saudi Arabia has been deeply skeptical over Turkish presence in Sudan, out of fear that Turkey is attempting to take Sudan away from Saudi influence and threaten Saudi Arabia's security. Saudi Arabia condemned the
2019 Turkish offensive into north-eastern Syria. In response, Erdogan criticised the death toll in the
Saudi-led intervention in the Yemeni civil war. The movie
Kingdoms of Fire, aired by MBC in 2019, was partially financed by Saudi Arabia, further exacerbated by the portrayal of the Ottoman Turks as violent, ruthless and uncivilized people. This had drawn criticism in Turkey. Turkey and Saudi Arabia have also clashed vying for influence in the
Libyan Civil War. Turkey has been throwing significant support to the Islamist-backed
Government of National Accord in
Tripoli, but Saudi Arabia, along with Egypt and the UAE, has supported
Khalifa Haftar's
House of Representatives in
Tobruk. The Turkish actions has gained minor diplomatic support from Iran, which deepened the mistrust with Saudi Arabia. The
2020 Baghdad International Airport airstrike, where Iranian general
Qasem Soleimani was assassinated by the United States, had revealed the complicated nature of the relationship between Saudi Arabia and Turkey, with both countries secretly approving the airstrike with hope to remove a grave threat from Iran to both countries' ambitions in the Middle East. In February 2020, Saudi Foreign Minister
Adel al-Jubeir accused Turkey of financing and sponsoring the "extremist militias" in Somalia, Libya and Syria, Saudi Arabia also moved to block all Turkish websites in Saudi Arabia. In response, Ankara announced it would block all Saudi and Emirati websites in the country. In September 2020, during the
2020 Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Saudi Arabian TV channel
Al Arabiya had broadcast the speech of Armenian President
Armen Sargsyan accusing Turkey and Azerbaijan of inflaming the conflict. In response, Turkish leader Erdoğan accused Arab countries of destabilising peace in Middle East and Caucasus, causing anti-Turkish sentiment to spread in Saudi Arabia as Saudi officials called for boycott against Turkish goods. This was rebutted by the Saudi who said they were committed to international treaties relating to trade. But the boycott seemed to have caused serious inflictions into the trade, as
Maersk advised his clients to be aware of the Saudi ban on Turkish goods, and also Turkish business associations in Turkey appealed to the Turkish Government to find a solution for the conflict. It appeared that not only Turkish goods are targeted but also products "Made in Turkey" from foreign companies.
Armenia Saudi Arabia had traditionally supported Turkey over the
Armenian genocide. However, due to the increasing deterioration of Saudi–Turkish relations, Saudi Arabia has started to raise the Armenian issue. In 2019, Saudi Arabia agreed to sponsor recognition of the genocide in the
United States Congress, whereby Saudi Princess
Reema bint Bandar Al Saud, Saudi Arabia's first female ambassador to the United States, condemned Turkey. The genocide has been formally recognized by the United States in statements, resolutions, and legal submissions
several times, including in 1951, 1975, 1984, and 1996, before being officially recognized in a resolution in both houses in 2019
United States resolution on Armenian Genocide. However, Saudi Arabia does not officially recognize Armenian Genocide.
Israel In August 2020,
Mossad's chief
Yossi Cohen, on his statement to the Saudi, Egyptian and Emirati counterparts, had openly named Turkey as a new threat for the peace of the region, and even further single out a number of allies Turkey would gain potential support like Azerbaijan and Qatar, the former has strong relations with Israel since 1990s. Both Saudi Arabia, Israel, Greece, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates have viewed
Turkish expansionism under Recep Tayyip Erdoğan represent a new danger for the Middle East since 2018, due to ongoing conflicts with Turkey in Syria, Iraq, Sudan and Libya, with Saudi expert Saud al-Sarhan viewing it as mirroring the Ottoman pan-Islamist policies in World War I.
Palestine In an interview in October 2020, Saudi Prince and former Saudi ambassador to the United States,
Bandar bin Sultan Al Saud, blasted the Palestinian leadership for its incompetence as well as singling Turkey, alongside Iran, accusing Ankara of abusing the Palestinian cause for Turkish profits. The Turkish government of Erdoğan has recently lashed out Saudi Arabia and other Arab states for betraying Palestine.
Since 2020s Turkish Super Cup controversy The
Turkish Football Federation reached an agreement with Saudi Arabia to host the
2023 Turkish Super Cup between
Galatasaray and
Fenerbahçe. The match was scheduled to take place at the
Al-Awwal Park in Riyadh, in December 2023. This decision, however, sparked significant backlash from Turkish fans as they strongly advocated for the
intercontinental derby, recognized as the biggest football match in Turkey, to be played in Turkey in commemoration of the
100th Anniversary of the Republic of Turkey. Fenerbahçe and Galatasaray, requested to warm up wearing t-shirts featuring
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, and carrying banners with his quotes such as "
Peace at Home, Peace in the World" and "
How happy is the one who says I am a Turk", in the opening ceremony. However, Saudi Arabian officials, citing international regulations and agreements previously made with the Turkish Football Federation, refused to incorporate these requests into the existing protocol before the match. In response to this disagreement, both sides refused to play, resulting in the cancellation of the match. The clubs' decision not to play received widespread support across Turkey. Erdogan blamed the Turkish opposition for harming relations between Saudi Arabia and Turkey, Erdogan defended Saudi Arabia as a brotherly country and an important trade partner.
Reconciliation Following the election of
Joe Biden as president of the United States in November 2020, Saudi Arabia, whose government had been given a free hand by the
Donald Trump administration, and Turkey, whose economy had been additionally hit by Saudi Arabia's unofficial trade embargo on Turkish goods, appeared to make tentative attempts at rapprochement. However, Turkey's support of the
Muslim Brotherhood combined with Saudi Arabia's emerging alliance with Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, the two fellow Arab nations that had been openly hostile to Turkey, and also
with Israel, Cyprus and Greece, were said to make prospects of such rapprochement dubious. Azerbaijan relations with
Saudi Arabia also deteriorated but Azerbaijan relations with
Turkey remain close. In the beginning of 2021, Turkey's leadership was especially concerned and alarmed by rapprochement
between Saudi Arabia and Greece, Turkey's arch-enemy in the Eastern Mediterranean. Turkey's hopes for reconciliation with Saudi Arabia were believed to have been dashed in mid-March 2021, as Saudi
F-15C fighter jets landed in the Greek island of Crete to participate in a training exercise with Greece, a move being seen as Saudi Arabia's response in kind to Turkey's policies in Saudi Arabia's neighbourhood. According to CNN, Turkey's president
Erdogan said in January 2022 that his first visit to Saudi Arabia since 2017 will be in February 2022. President Erdogan visited Saudi Arabia on 23 June 2022 and met Mohammed bin Salman and they want to boost their economic relations. Emirati-Turkish reconciliation in 2021, followed by Turkey's decision to move Khashoggi case to the Saudi judicial system and lack of support from
Biden administration to Saudi Arabia, paved a way for Saudi-Turkish reconciliation efforts. Following the talks between Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan in June, the two countries said they discussed improving relations and investment in sectors from energy to defence among others. Saudi Arabia pledged to increase its assistance and boost Turkish economy aftermath of the
2023 Turkey–Syria earthquake. Relations between the two countries continued to improve following the overthrow of
Bashar al-Assad, aimed at limiting Iranian influence. Although Syria was readmitted to the Arab League, the Saudis remained uneasy about Assad's ties to both Iran and the
Houthis in Yemen. Saudi Arabia and Turkey have both shown interest in
BRICS, but neither has officially joined as of 2025. Saudi Arabia was invited to join as a full member. ==Cooperation against Iran==