Businessmen in Saudi Arabia start boycott campaign against Turkish goods
It is unfortunately a fact that the Arabs in general have never been friendly to Turkey in a sincere manner and they have hit this country from behind on every opportunity throughout history. There is no doubt several examples from the past to support this observation can be proivded, if need be.
To parallel above statement, Saudis are not fond of Turkey in specific, either and do not hesitate to voice it on occasions. There are two main reasons for this hostility. The first reason is the Ottoman Empire has invaded and ruled in the Middle East for centuries and it goes without saying the people living in the area as well as the Arab rulers, may not have been very pleased with the administration practices of the empire during this time – which is understandable, really.
The second reason is probably even more important; Saudi Arabia has always had the ultimate target of “securing a position on the planet as the leader of the Muslim world” (and in the Middle East, in particular). However with the presence of a very powerful country such as Turkey which is both Muslim (mainly) and also secular – a good enough advantage for Turkey in the tough challenge between 2 countries – it is no secret that Turkey exposes a great threat for the plans of SA.
This being the situation some Saudis (close to the ruling family, obviously) who have forgotten SA has caused Turkey to find itself in an international and unacceptable scandal in its territory all of a sudden (to contribute to its many already existing problems to be dealt with) have been calling on their citizens to boycott Turkish products – obviously to damage their rivals in this part of the world. How genius?
In our opinion Turkey has already done its best so far to keep the damage SA and its almighty leader(s) could have incurred on the international arena at the minimum, by keeping low profile and displaying a calm and cautious approach to the issue. Because, it is very clear that the murder order was given by the people at the very top – as the whole world agrees. So far, Turkey’s President Erdogan could have used this point much more strongly against the MBS (if he wanted to) but he did not… at least so far.
This being the case it is absolutely unfair, incomprehensible and even awkward why some influential Saudis should call on Arabs to boycott Turkish goods etc. making statements such as “Turkey is at least as hostile as Iran”. Indeed it is reported that some Saudi businessmen have started a boycott campaign against Turkish goods. In this campaign on Twitter, tens of thousands of tweets have been posted in a short period of time since yesterday. Users from other Gulf countries, as well as Saudi Arabia, participated in the discussion, as well.
Some profiles on Twitter have accused Turkey of trying to involve Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Selman in the murder of journalist KHASHOGGI in Istanbul and seemed to provide the greatest support for the boycott started for Turkish goods. Many users also wrote that they saw Turkey as an enemy like they saw Iran supporting the expression used by Saudi journalist Yahya Taleed who said “Turkey is at least as hostile Iran”.
The lesson to be taken from this issue certainly is: “One should think twice before taking a step one would regret for in the future. Especially at our times when almost nothing can be kept out of sight thanks to the advanced means of communication reaching millions in a blink of the eye”.
