Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said on Friday it was not right for the United States to pressure Saudi Arabia after OPEC+ oil producers announced production cuts despite U.S. objections.
“We see that a country has threatened Saudi Arabia, especially recently. This bullying is not correct,” Çavuşoğlu said at a news conference in southern Turkey.
President Joe Biden said last week “there will be consequences” for U.S. relations with Saudi Arabia after OPEC+ announced it would cut its oil output target.
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan has said the OPEC+ decision was purely economic and was taken unanimously by its member states.
“We don’t think it is right for the United States to use it as an element of pressure on Saudi Arabia or any other country in this way,” Çavuşoğlu said.
Oil importer Turkey has this year sought to normalise ties with Saudi Arabia, which were ruptured after the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018. Now Turkey is seeking foreign financial support to bolster its beleaguered economy ahead of elections next year.
In April, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan held one-on-one talks with Prince Mohammed in Saudi Arabia, after earlier dropping the Turkish trial over Khashoggi’s 2018 murder in Istanbul.
(This article was originally published on the Arab Weekly.)
Ahval