Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu arrived in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Friday to attend the Sir Bani Yas Forum upon the invitation of his Emirati counterpart.
According to a statement by the Turkish Foreign Ministry, Çavuşoğlu will visit the UAE from Nov. 4-6 at the invitation of Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the minister of foreign affairs.
Çavuşoğlu is expected to meet with Al Nahyan as part of his visit, where the two officials will address bilateral and regional matters.
Bilateral ties entered a new phase with the visit of Abu Dhabi's crown prince to Ankara last November for the first high-level visit to Turkey since 2012. The Abu Dhabi crown prince's visit led to the announcement of a $10 billion-fund for investments in Türkiye. Both countries also signed several agreements on energy, environment, finance and trade.
In a reciprocal visit, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan visited the UAE in February, when the two countries signed 13 cooperation agreements in various sectors.
The visit comes amid thawing ties between the two countries after years of tension and rivalry in the Middle East.
Türkiye in 2020 accused the UAE of bringing chaos to the Middle East through its interventions in Libya and Yemen, while the UAE and several other countries criticized Ankara’s military actions. Relations hit an all-time low when Erdoğan said that Ankara could suspend diplomatic ties with the Abu Dhabi administration after the UAE-Israel deal.
Türkiye also sided with Qatar in a Gulf dispute, at odds with the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, while Turkish support helped Libya’s United Nations-backed government in Tripoli drive back UAE-supported forces attempting to seize the capital. However, 2021 saw Ankara seeking warmer ties with several regional countries and longtime foes after many tumultuous years.
Converging interests have driven regional power shifts in the Middle East, mainly led by regional powerhouses Türkiye and the UAE. The diplomatic maneuvering signals a growing realization across the region that the United States’ interest is moving elsewhere and that now is the time for negotiations that were unthinkable just a year ago.
