Turkey businessmen call on Saudi to stop blocking entry of their products

Leading Turkish business groups have called on Saudi Arabia to stop undermining the entry of their products to the kingdom, warning that this will hurt both the Turkish and Saudi economies.

In a statement published on Saturday, the heads of Turkey’s eight largest business groups reported that Saudi companies said they were asked by their country to sign letters to pledge not to import Turkish goods.

According to the statement, the eight business groups said that Turkish contractors were excluded from major tenders.

“This issue has gone beyond bilateral economic relations and become a problem for global supply chains,” said the statement that was signed by industry leaders, exporters, contractors and unions, according to Bloomberg.

It added: “Any official or unofficial initiative to block trade between the two countries will have negative repercussions on our trade relations and be detrimental to economies and people of both countries.”

Late last week, Saudi Prince Abdulrahman Bin Musa’ad called for boycotting Turkish imports after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that his country’s army in Qatar helps stabilise security in the Gulf states.

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Earlier this year, it was reported that Saudi had been putting pressure on local businesses not to trade with Turkey and its industries in a bid to boost its unofficial boycott. The detention of trucks carrying produce from Turkey raised tension between the two countries.

This came after Prince Faisal Bin Bandar Bin Abdulaziz refused to drink Turkish coffee offered to him last year. While, Prince Abdullah Bin Sultan Al Saud called for a boycott of Turkey and its produce until “Ankara reviews its policies with the Kingdom.”

In another incident last year, Riyadh blocked dozens of Turkish trucks carrying textile products and chemicals on the border of the Kingdom. The Saudi authorities have also changed “Ottoman Empire” to “Ottoman occupation” in school textbooks, and this year removed the sign from a Riyadh street named after Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent.