HERMINE HOVHANNISYAN
of Turkish-Syrian relations over Syria ’ s support to the Kurdistan Worker Party ( PKK ).” 94 Furthermore , the problems on the usage of the Euphrates river led to the stagnation of bilateral relations . 95
The year 2003 was rather challenging for the Kingdom . The US invasion of Iraq , the defeat of Saddam Hussein , the empowerment of the Iraqi Shias ( and consequently Iran ’ s hegemonic ambitions ), and their active engagement in Iraq , etc . were worrisome for Saudi Arabia . Thereby , it began to build an alliance that shared its concerns . One of those states was Turkey . Thus , bilateral relations improved in 2006 when the Saudi monarch became the first Saudi leader who paid a visit to Turkey . This was followed by a second visit in 2007 and flourishing economic and high-level diplomatic ties . Cordial relations continued throughout the first decade of the 2000s . 96
Then came the Arab Spring , which resulted in the gradual but systemic deterioration of the relations between them . The crux of the matter was that Turkey , headed by President Erdogan , welcomed the revolutions in the region , while Saudi Arabia was pro-status quo . Particularly , Saudi Arabia feared that these revolts could embolden Shia Muslims and other opposition groups within the country and neighboring countries , resulting in destabilization of the balance of power in the region . 9798 Disagreements heightened in 2012 , when Ankara started to support Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt . The latter was considered a terrorist organization by the Kingdom , making Turkey ’ s ties with them unacceptable . In 2013 , as a result of a military coup , which was rigorously condemned by Erdogan , Morsi was ousted and offered shelter in Turkey . Tensions came to a peak when these two countries appeared on opposite sides during the Qatar crisis in 2017 . 99
94 Meliha B . Altunisik , “ Bitter Frenemies : The Not-Quite-Alliance Between Saudi Arabia
And Turkey ”, Foreign Affairs , May 15 , 2012 , https :// www . foreignaffairs . com / articles / turkey / 2012-05-15 / bitter-frenemies .
95
Ibid .
96
Nasser Pourebrahim , “ Turkish-Saudi Relations : A regional Perspective ( 2003-2015 )”, Iranian Review of Foreign Affairs 6 , no . 2 ( 22 ), ( 2015 ): 69-92 .
97
Ahmed Al-Burai , “ Why is Saudi Arabia and the UAE ’ s antagonism of Turkey on the rise ?” Daily Sabah , May 4 , 2020 , https :// www . dailysabah . com / opinion / op-ed / why-issaudi-arabia-and-the-uaes-antagonism-of-turkey-on-the-rise . 98 Birol Baskan , “ A new Turkey-Saudi crisis is brewing ,” Middle East Institute , January 8 ,
2019 , https :// www . mei . edu / publications / new-turkey-saudi-crisis-brewing .
99
Nader Habibi , “ How Turkey and Saudi Arabia became frenemies – and why the Khashoggi case could change that ,” The Conversation , October 18 , 2018 , https :// theconversation . com / how-turkey-and-saudi-arabia-became-frenemies-and-whythe-khashoggi-case-could-change-that-105021 .
23