Saudi Arabia, Turkey to boost ties with ‘strategic cooperation council’

Turkey’s top diplomat Mevlut Cavusoglu and his Saudi counterpart Adel al-Jubeir appeared in a joint press conference after talks between Saudi King Salman and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the Saudi capital, Riyadh.

Al-Jubeir said the council will deal with a host of vital issues, especially in the fields of security, military, economy, trade, energy, investment, education, medicine and cultural affairs between the two countries.

Speaking to reporters before departing for Saudi Arabia, Erdoğan accused Syria’s president of “mercilessly” killing hundreds of thousands of people and criticized Russian Federation for backing him.

The leaders discussed mutual relations, regional developments, as well as “cooperation in confronting terrorism and radicalism”, said Jubeir.

Ja’afari said armed terrorist groups, with members from over 100 countries, are being provided with funding, weapons, logistical and materiel support “by states and regimes from the region and beyond” in their war against Syria. He expressed skepticism on ongoing diplomatic efforts to bring about a political settlement to the conflict, repeating Turkey’s long-sought demand on the ouster of Assad at the end of any transitional period.

King Salman had invited Erdogan to visit Riyadh during November’s G-20 summit in Antalya where ties between the two nations were further strengthened.

Erdogan said his government and Saudi Arabia are working “in solidarity and consultation” to find a political solution for Syria, as both countries push for an agreement that would remove Assad from power.

Elsewhere in his comments, Ja’afari described Ankara’s recent downing of a Russian fighter jet on the Syrian soil as “a stab in the back of the heroes who are combating the terrorism” perpetrated by the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group.

Ankara considers both groups as terrorist organizations due to their links to Turkey’s outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), fearing that they would establish an independent Kurdish state in the north of Syria.

Last December, a 17-year-old was arrested in his classroom and held for several days on the same charge and given an 11-month suspended sentence.