After Salman bin Abdul Aziz came to power in Saudi Arabia on January 23, 2015, the Sudan gradually moved away from Iran and the axis of resistance, approaching Riyadh, but now it seems Khartoum is reversing the path.
Sudan has declared neutrality in the crisis between Qatar and Saudi Arabia which is accompanied by its three allies, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt; this has seriously angered Riyadh and Abu Dhabi.
Sudanese sources, on the other hand, emphasized the possibility that Khartoum would withdraw its troops from the Saudi-led war against Yemen, so that Saudi Arabia is gradually losing one of its allies in the war on Yemen.
In fact, it can be said that the failure of Saudi Arabia to end the war in Yemen and the crisis with Qatar led Khartoum to side away from Saudi Arabia and; the stances of Khartoum in these two cases flared the anger of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates on Sudan, and Riyadh suspended its investment plans in Sudan as a punishment. Also there are signs that the same two issues are pushing Jordan away from Saudi led camp.
Considering these points, the visit of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to Sudan has become important; political pundits believe that Turkey is using the tensions in relations between Saudi Arabia and Sudan. Erdogan is offering investments to win his gateway to Africa.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan started his four-day tour of Sudan, Chad, and Tunisia on Sunday.
During a visit to Sudan, he met with MPs and participated in a meeting of the two business councils after a bilateral meeting with Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir. At the meeting with al-Bashir, in addition to signing 12 cooperation agreements in many fields, including in areas of defense, industry and health issues, Erdogan was awarded the Sudanese national emblem. The two presidents also agreed to formulate a joint strategic cooperation council.
This is the first trip of one of the Turkish presidents to Khartoum after the declaration of Sudan's independence in 1956. The visit follows the announcement by the US President Donald Trump of the recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of the Zionist regime and the wave of international and regional condemnation of this action among Arab and Islamic countries, and the rigorous silencing of Riyadh in this regard.
YNG/ IRN 82775132