Erdogan: We have commonalities with the UAE and Saudi Arabia

 Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday that his country has commonalities with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, saying their differences have been overcome.

His remarks came during his participation in a youth event on the occasion of Youth and Sports Day and in commemoration of the founder of the Turkish Republic, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, in the presidential compound in Ankara, according to the Turkish Anadolu News Agency.

Erdogan played down Turkey’s differences with the UAE and Saudi Arabia, saying they were “differences within the same family” and had been overcome.

He added: “We have overcome our differences with Riyadh and Abu Dhabi, and we have drawn up plans and are taking steps to rapidly develop bilateral relations in the areas of trade, industry, defense industries, culture and tourism”.

He said he recently visited the UAE to pay his condolences for the death of the late President Sheik Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

Erdogan stressed that relations with Saudi Arabia are also moving in a more positive direction.

He was confident that the path Turkey had embarked on towards the two countries would make very important contributions both commercially and politically.

He said Turkey shares its expertise in defense industries with Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

On the 29th of last month, Erdogan visited Saudi Arabia for the first time after the tensions between Ankara and Riyadh; against the backdrop of the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018, as he had previously visited Abu Dhabi in February.