If we look at the recent past, it seems that the Islamic countries of West Asia are forgetting their mutual differences. For example, in 2021, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Egypt ended their blockade against Qatar. Years later, Saudi Arabia and Iran have held several rounds of talks in Iraq, and Saudi Arabia's stance on Yemen is also changing. Turkey and the United Arab Emirates have also forgotten their differences and held high-level talks.
In addition, Turkey has apparently put its differences with Saudi Arabia aside, and President Erdogan visited Saudi Arabia in April of last year. On Monday, Saudi Arabia announced that it would deposit $5 billion in Turkey's central bank. Thus, Saudi Arabia has opened its treasury for Turkey, which is currently facing a disastrous situation due to the earthquake.
All of this is happening at a time when Turkey's relations with the West are not good and Saudi Arabia's relations with the United States are also strained. In this context, the question arises whether those Islamic countries that were previously at each other's throats are really trying to unite now?
Former Indian ambassador to Gulf countries, Talmiz Ahmad, had told BBC during Erdogan's visit to Saudi Arabia that "confusion has increased about Afghanistan, and this has deepened the Gulf countries' lack of confidence in America in the Middle East. Gulf countries feel that they have to conduct their diplomacy in this area themselves. Saudi Arabia itself is talking to Iran. The United Arab Emirates is itself leaving Turkey. Thus, a new environment has emerged."
In Talmiz Ahmad's view, the way America handed over Afghanistan to the Taliban and left was a message that America does not bring any work to logical conclusions. That is why there is an atmosphere of mistrust about relations with America now.
Professor AK Mahapatra of the Center for West Asian Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University does not think that the Islamic world is weakening. He says that President Erdogan wants to become the leader of the Islamic world because he believes that Turkey is the true heir to the Ottoman Empire and that leading the Muslim world is their right.
"On the other hand, Saudi Arabia considers it their natural right to lead the Islamic world because of Mecca and Medina. Erdogan's softness towards Saudi Arabia is just a form of his politics. I don't think it should be seen as a weakness in their mutual differences," he said.
According to him, "Western Asia is the region where Qatar is an emirate state, just as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are emirates. All three countries conduct their diplomacy based on their own wealth. The United States cannot ignore this reality.
"Saudi Arabia has decided to collect five billion dollars in the central bank of Turkey this Monday for the aid of earthquake victims. Saudi Fund for Development stated in a statement that this assistance is proof of the close cooperation and historical relations between Saudi Arabia and Turkey.
Turkey has been facing a shortage of foreign exchange reserves since 2018. And when Russia attacked Ukraine, the prices of energy and food items in Turkey also skyrocketed. In addition to this, all of Turkey's responsibility for energy depends on its income as well.
Therefore, after deteriorating relations with the West, Turkey has been trying to improve relations with Gulf countries for the past few years.
There has been excitement in Turkey's relations with the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia last year. The Turkish President visited the United Arab Emirates in February last year and also visited Saudi Arabia in April.
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