President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan made a phone call with Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Monday afternoon, in which the two discussed relations between Turkey and the Gulf state.
UAE state media said the leaders discussed ways to improve ties between “the two fraternal nations.”
Erdogan said earlier that the countries, which have been at odds over various issues, have made progress in bilateral relations in recent months.
The call came after the president received the UAE’s national security adviser, Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
“For several months … starting with our intelligence unit, holding some talks with the Abu Dhabi administration, we have reached a certain point,” Erdogan also noted.
“I am also thinking of meeting with Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed,” he added.
The two countries, which supported rival sides in the Libyan conflict, have been bitter rivals for regional influence. Turkey last year accused the UAE of causing chaos in the Middle East through its interventions in Libya and Yemen, while the UAE and several other countries criticized Turkey’s military actions. Relations between Turkey and the UAE reached an all-time low when Erdogan said Ankara could suspend diplomatic ties with the Abu Dhabi administration following the UAE-Israel agreement.
Turkish officials have said the United Arab Emirates supports terrorist organizations targeting Turkey, using the groups as convenient political and military tools abroad.
The UAE’s aggressive foreign policy made it part of a Saudi-led coalition in Yemen that launched a devastating air campaign to delay Houthi territorial gains in 2015, further exacerbating the country’s crisis devastated by the war. In Libya, Abu Dhabi supported Putchist General Khalifa Haftar and tried to oust the legitimate Government of National Accord (GNA) recognized by the United Nations. In Syria, he supported the Bashar Assad regime in its offensive against democracy and civil rights.
And in 2017, Abu Dhabi was at the head of a regional embargo on Qatar, which the UAE and Saudi Arabia imposed after accusing Doha of supporting the Muslim Brotherhood and being too close to Iran. . In January, Abu Dhabi followed Saudi Arabia’s leadership in lifting the regional embargo on Qatar.
In June, a report said the UAE was trying to re-establish ties with Turkey and other regional countries.
Erdogan had reiterated that Turkey hopes to maximize its cooperation with Egypt and the Gulf nations “on a win-win basis,” at a time when Ankara has stepped up diplomacy to repair its close ties with Cairo and some Arab nations. of the Gulf after years of tensions.