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Saudi Arabia has long sought to overthrow the Erdogan government in Turkey. As part of this, Riyadh has adopted the strategy of closing the country’s market in Saudi Arabia. This is clear from the news circulating in the international media since October 2020, in addition to the Saudi and Turkish media. Now the Saudi authorities are intensifying the boycott. According to the British newspaper Financial Times, Saudi Arabia has imposed “unofficial sanctions” on Turkish imports.
In response to questions from the media, the Saudi government continues to say that there is no state ban on imports from Turkey. However, journalists, observers and the Turkish business community 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 was found last week. The Saudi Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) decided to suspend imports of all types 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 of Saudi Arabia’s decision.
‘No imports, no investments, no travel’
The Riyadh Chamber of Commerce, the most important and influential business association in Saudi Arabia, is openly leading the Turkish boycott campaign.
The association’s director, Azlan al-Azlan, issued a statement in mid-October. He called for a boycott of everything Turkey did in protest at the “continued hostility against the Saudi leadership, the country and the Saudi people.”
The main message of the statement was: there is no investment in Turkey, there is no imports from Turkey and there is no tourism in the country.
According to Riyadh Reuters, Saudi supermarket chains are responding to the boycott call one by one.
In addition to Athayam, the largest supermarket in Saudi Arabia, Danube, Tamimi and Panda Chain Shop confirmed the matter in an official statement. They said they would not sell any products made in Turkey after current stocks ran out.
“Our leadership, government and security are our red line,” Athayama Super Shop authorities 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 social media for over a month with the hashtag ‘Boycott-Turkish Products’.
As a result, Turkish goods are being emptied from store shelves and many shoppers are reluctant to approach the rest.
Riyadh-Ankara relations at the bottom
Pro-government Saudi 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 spoke on the matter. He said the popular boycott was due “to Turkey’s involvement in the internal politics of the Middle East.”
He said that President Erdogan was now handling his internal problems outside the country. Like Iran, Turkey now threatens the region. The 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.
Relations between Riyadh and Ankara have deteriorated since Turkey’s unwavering support for the Arab Spring in 2011. Then, in 2016, when Saudi Arabia and its allies imposed sanctions on Qatar, President Erdogan came out in support of Qatar. Erdogan is said to have only thwarted Saudi Arabia’s anti-Qatar blockade. Riad was very angry.
Relations between the two countries have soured since President Erdogan blamed the Saudi royal family for the 2016 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
Consequences of the boycott
According to import statistics, Turkey is the twelfth trading partner of Saudi Arabia. In 2019, Saudi Arabia imported goods worth £ 3.2 billion from Turkey.
In an article in the Saudi daily Al Arabiya on the boycott, economic analyst Amal Abdul-Aziz al-Hajani said that trade relations between the two countries 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 they had received 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.
International fashion brands are also in crisis due to unofficial bans on products made in Turkey in Saudi Arabia.
The Spanish brand Mango, an important part of its clothes is made in Turkey, is looking for alternative ways of making clothes in different countries 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, acknowledged that fashion brands are having trouble bringing products made in Turkey to Saudi Arabia and some Gulf countries.
Turkey’s eight major trade associations issued a joint statement last month strongly condemning Saudi Arabia’s increasingly negative attitude towards Turkish companies. By calling for an end to the dispute, they said it would harm both countries.
Suicide boycott
The boycott of the Turkish government in Saudi Arabia has yet to be officially announced. However, the official Turkish newspaper Yeni সা afa wrote in a sub-editorial that the boycott would be suicide for Saudi Arabia.
It has been argued that its exports to Saudi Arabia are so small compared to Turkey’s total foreign trade that they will not cause much damage to the Turkish economy. By contrast, the 80 percent of Saudi Arabia that depends on imports will be deprived of cheap quality products.
Yeni াক afak’s deputy editor says the Saudi people will never like it. Everyone knows that the Saudi government is forcing them to boycott. The Arab people in general have no disputes with Turkey.
Saudi economic analyst Amal Abdul-Aziz al-Hajani, however, says that stopping food imports from Turkey may not harm the Turkish economy. But if economic relations continue to deteriorate in this way, Turkey will not be able to avoid its many negative effects.
According to him, the Saudis are the biggest buyers of real estate in Turkey. Hundreds of Turkish companies operate in Saudi Arabia. Approximately one million Turkish citizens work in Saudi Arabia. Furthermore, Turkey was targeting a Saudi investment of £ 2.5 billion by 2023. And it wanted to bring bilateral trade to two trillion dollars. The Saudi analyst believes that these targets in Turkey will remain only on paper due to strained political relations. Source: BBC.
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