RIYADH: Saudi Arabia and Turkey have expressed their unflinching support for the Palestinians and called on Israel to halt all settlement expansion activities to revive peace talks.
The declaration followed wide-ranging talks between Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah on Tuesday in Riyadh, where a number of high-profile political meetings have been held since last month with the aim of presenting a unified Arab stand on Palestinian reconciliation and resumption of peace talks with Israel.
The talks between King Abdullah and Erdogan also focused on the Palestinian-Israel situation, a freeze on settlements in all occupied territories including East Jerusalem, the Iranian nuclear program, Yemen and violence involving rebels, conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan and a number of other key regional and bilateral issues.
The Turkish prime minister also met with Crown Prince Sultan, deputy premier and minister of defense and aviation.
Erdogan said that he was hopeful that the Middle East would soon be turned into “a land of peace, prosperity and stability.”
“There is nothing more natural than for Turkey to show concern for the Palestinians, not because we are Muslims; but because we are sane and human beings,” he said.
“Should we not send aid and relief materials to quake-hit Haiti, because they are Christians,” he said while expressing his sympathies for the survivors of the earthquake in the Caribbean nation.
Saudi and Turkish officials said that the talks also focused on the roles the Kingdom and Turkey have been playing in trying to relaunch the Mideast peace process. The two leaders called on the international community to take a stern and serious stance against Israel’s policy.
The officials said that they also discussed the issue of Iran, saying that the Middle East should be free from nuclear weapons. But Erdogan was also quoted as saying it would only be fair to exert more pressure on Iran if the same was done with Israel. In an indirect reference to Israel’s nuclear arsenal, the Turkish prime minister criticized the dual stance of major countries on various regional issues. Erdogan earlier delivered a speech at the Riyadh Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI) in which he called on Saudi businessmen to forge closer ties with Turkey.
He told members of the business community to boost trade relations and achieve a target of $10 billion to $20 billion in bilateral trade within a few years.
“Our trade volume was over $5 billion in 2008 and that has come down to $3 billion during the first 10 months of 2009,” Erdogan added. “Your investments in finance, tourism, communications, agriculture and heath will not only contribute to our best interests but also have a direct effect on the economies of regional countries,” he said.
“It is high time to strengthen commercial ties between two brotherly nations,” chairman of the RCCI Abdulrahman Al-Jeraisy said.
Erdogan, who is accompanied by Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, Trade Minister Zafer Çaglayan, Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek and Energy Minister Taner Yildiz, flew into Jeddah on Tuesday night.
On Wednesday the Turkish premier will visit the Organization of the Islamic Conference headquarters and meet with OIC Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu before leaving for Ankara.
