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The political rivalry between the two major powers of the Muslim world has affected trade relations. In addition to the Saudi and Turkish media since last October, the international media report day after day that it is clear that the Saudis have taken the strategy of closing the Turkish market to punish the Erdogan government.
The trusted British daily Financial Times reports that Saudi Arabia has imposed “unofficial sanctions” on Turkish imports.
However, when asked by the media, the Saudi government continues to say that there is no state ban on imports from Turkey. However, Turkish journalists, observers and businessmen are convinced that the government is behind the campaign to boycott Turkish products that has spread rapidly in Saudi Arabia.
The first indication that the boycott campaign was carried out at the behest of the Saudi government came last week, when the Saudi Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) decided to suspend imports of all kinds of meat, fish, eggs and milk and dairy products from Turkey.
The English-language Turkish daily Sabah and some other media outlets reported that the Turkish Commerce Ministry had confirmed the Saudi decision. The government has informed the country’s exporting companies about the Saudi decision.
‘No imports, no investments, no travel’
The Riyadh Chamber of Commerce, the main and most influential business association in Saudi Arabia, is openly leading the “Turkish boycott” campaign.
The head of the association, Azlan al-Azlan, issued a statement in mid-October calling for a boycott of all protests made by Turkey in protest of the “continued hostility against the Saudi leadership, the country and the Saudi people.” The main message of the statement was: there is no investment, no imports and no tourism in Turkey.
Riyadh’s Reuters news agency reported that Saudi supermarket chains were responding to the boycott call one by one. In addition to Athayam, the largest supermarket in Saudi Arabia, Danube, Tamimi and Panda Chain Shop have stated in a statement that they will not sell any products made in Turkey once their current stocks run out.
“Our leadership, government and security are our red line,” Atham Supershop officials said in a statement on Twitter. It would not be acceptable to reduce these three problems.
Large posters have been erected in front of many stores urging people not to buy Turkish products. At the same time, there has been a massive campaign on the hashtag ‘Boycott-Turkish Products’ on social media for the past month.
As a result, Turkish products are being emptied from store shelves and many shoppers are reluctant to search for the remaining products, according to a Reuters report.
Riyadh-Ankara relations at the bottom
Saudi pro-government analysts and intellectuals are trying to build public opinion by arguing for the boycott in the media.
Recently, the well-known Saudi political and international relations analyst at Arab News. Hamdan al-Sehri said the popular boycott is due “to Turkey’s involvement in the internal politics of the Middle East.”
“President Erdogan now handles his internal affairs outside the country,” he said. Turkey, like Iran, now threatens the region. Terrorists support the militias, inciting the Muslim Brotherhood. This threatens the security of the Arab countries.
The rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Turkey for leadership and influence in the Arab world is on the rise.
Ankara’s relations with Riyadh began to deteriorate in 2011 after Turkey’s unwavering support for the so-called Arab Spring. Then in 2016, when Saudi Arabia and its allies imposed sanctions on Qatar, President Erdogan spoke out in support of Qatar.
Relations between the two countries have soured since President Erdogan blamed the Saudi royal family for the 2016 murder of journalist Jamal Khasogi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
Consequences of the boycott
According to import statistics, Turkey is Saudi Arabia’s twelfth largest trading partner. In 2019, Saudi Arabia imported goods worth £ 3.2 billion from Turkey.
However, in an article about the boycott in the Saudi daily Al-Arabiya, economic analyst Amal Abdul-Aziz Al-Hajani said that trade relations between Saudi Arabia and Turkey have shrunk since 2016 as political relations deteriorated. . Trade has shrunk by at least 25 percent in the last two years.
Reuters quoted Ferdi Erdogan, director of the Turkish Building Materials Manufacturers Association, as saying that they had been receiving indications that Saudi Arabia had been blocking imports of Turkish goods and services for nearly a year. For some time now, Saudi customs have created various complications at ports.
Myersk, the world’s largest container shipping company, recently told Turkish exporters that Saudi customs were creating various complications during unloading of Turkish goods.
Furthermore, international fashion brands are reported to be in crisis due to “unofficial bans” on products made in Turkey in Saudi Arabia.
According to the Financial Times in London, the Spanish brand Mango: Turkey, which makes a significant part of its garments, is looking for alternative ways of making garments for sale in Saudi Arabia. There are about 50 mango stores in Saudi Arabia.
Mango told its suppliers in Turkey that Saudi customs took so long to unload that they had no choice but to manufacture garments in other countries.
Mustafa Gultep, director of the Istanbul-based Garment Association, told the Financial Times that fashion brands were having trouble bringing products made in Turkey to Saudi Arabia and some Gulf countries.
Turkey’s eight major business associations issued a joint statement last month strongly condemning “the increasingly negative attitude of Saudi Arabia towards Turkish companies.” In asking for a solution to the dispute, they said it would harm both countries.
‘Suicidal boycott’
The Turkish government has yet to comment on the boycott in Saudi Arabia. However, the official Turkish newspaper Yeni Safa wrote in a sub-editorial that the boycott would be suicidal for Saudi Arabia.
It has been argued that its exports to Saudi Arabia are so small compared to Turkey’s total foreign trade that it will not harm the Turkish economy, but will deprive the 80 percent of import-dependent Saudi Arabia of cheap quality goods.
“The Saudi people will never like it,” Yeni াক afak said. Everyone knows that the Saudi government is forcing them to boycott. The Arab people in general have no disputes with Turkey.
Amal Abdul-Aziz al-Hajani, an economic analyst in Saudi Arabia, says that stopping food imports from Turkey may not harm the Turkish economy, but that Turkey will not be able to avoid its negative effects if economic relations continue to deteriorate.
According to him, the Saudis are the biggest buyers of real estate in Turkey. More than 100 Turkish companies operate in Saudi Arabia. Approximately one million Turkish citizens work in Saudi Arabia.
Amal Abdul-Aziz also said that Turkey had targeted a Saudi investment of $ 2.5 billion by 2023 and wanted to increase bilateral trade to $ 2 billion. The Saudi analyst believes that these targets in Turkey will remain only on paper due to strained political relations.
Source: BBC Bangla
SA / MKH
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