Another detail not to be overlooked is that among the key players in the Turkish state, there are those who are very familiar with Saudi Arabia and who have main significant contributions to strengthen ties. The current president of the Republic, the ex foreign affairs minister, Abdullah Gül, worked as an economic consultant for the Islamic Development bank for seven years, with all that it entails in terms of contacts and relations. The fact that Arabic countries like to invest in Turkey, since Erdogan has been in power, can be seen from the figures. The figures allocated for and aimed at the country of the Crescent Moon have multiplied exponentially in the space of just a few years. According to Mehmet Hadra, the President of the Turkish-Arabic business people, there has been an increase from 70 million dollars in 2002 to 3 billion dollars in 2007. This capital is mainly concentrated in tourism, commerce and real estate. If the investments go well, commerce should not come out too bad. In 2006 the inter-exchange between Turkey and the Arabic peninsula reached 6 billion dollars. Out of this, 3.3 billion are with Saudi Arabia. Estimates from the Islamic Conference have calculated that between 2015 business between the two adherent countries could reach 15-20% of the total with regards the respective States.
As far as the situation with Saudi Arabia goes, the turning point came in 2006, when the Saudi King Abdullah step foot in Ankara after 40 years, accompanied by a hoard of ministers and business people and with a billion dollars of potential investments, to outline a new road map in the ties between the two countries. On a visit when the king also says that the entrance of Turkey in the European Union would be a great opportunity for peace in the Middle East and also in order to create new economic bridges. And in the past two years, at least between these two nations, many bridges have been created. At the end of 2007 a delegation of Turkish business people belonging to Tumsiad, the Association of all industrialists, an independent organisation from Tusiad and Musiad (“official” industrial associations), went to Saudi Arabia and in the space of not even a week, closed a deal of 417 million dollars. Such a mind-boggling outcome surprised most of all the industrialists who had adhered to the initiative.
During the visit the delegation made contact with the Chamber of Commerce of Jeddah and with the Islamic Development Bank, the one where the president of the Republic Abdullah Gul had worked. The sector where there are the most signed contracts was in construction. Another round, another present. A few weeks ago a Turkish consortium won a contract worth 383 million dollars to build a transmission water system to make water drinkable and in so doing, put a stop to the drought problems which inflict the Arab state. From a banking point of view it is a honeymoon. Last week the move of Turkye Finans, one of the main banks of the “Green Capital” in Turkey, to the National Commercial Bank of Saudi Arabia (NCB) was completed. The NCB bought 60% of the Boydak and Ulker groups for the considerable sum of 1.08 billion dollars. Talking to journalists, the Director of NCB, Abdulkarim Abu Al-Nasr, explained that the Saudi bank has 55 years’ experience behind it and that the collaboration with Ulker and Boydak will definitely be fruitful. The banks of “yesil kapital”, the Green Capital, are those banks which, observing Koran law, do not apply interest rates on the current accounts of their clients, following the writ that no money can be made off other money. The managing director of Turkiye Finans, Mustafa Boydak, stated that concentrating on a bank like Turkye Finans has been an excellent investment and that it will give a new lease of life to the banking market of the Green Capital of the country.
The same can be said for the opposite way. Ziraat Bankasi, the largest Turkish financial institution, will soon take off in Saudi Arabia. The Saudi Central Bank has in fact approved the opening of new branches in Jedda and Mecca. Their role will be to help Turkish business people going to Mecca to do business and the pilgrims who arrive in their millions every year in the holy city of approximately 10 thousand Turks. The opening is scheduled for the beginning of next year. There will be a higher concentration especially in the areas of Mecca and Medina due to the phenomenon of the pilgrimage to Mecca. Because business ties are important. But cemented by religion is even better.
Translation by Sonia Ter Hovanessian