A Study On The Relationship Between Saudi Arabia And TurkeyDuring The Cold War

Turkey and Saudi Arabia are relatively stable countries in the Middle East,and the change of their relationships partly affect the development of the situation in the middle East.This paper mainly discusses the evolution and development of relations between Turkey and Saudi Arabia during the Cold War.In this period,they were from confrontation to cooperation,and then they gradually transformed into a strategic partnership.During the early years of the Cold War,as an important strategic location in the middle East,the U.S.and the Soviet Union were all trying to integrate Turkey and Saudi Arabia into their respective league.Under the influence of many factors within and outside the region,they came to a deadlock.From 1947-1965,in order to rebuild the economy faster and prevent the threat from the Soviet,Turkey joined the west,and established friendly relation with Israel.In contrast to Turkey,Saudi Arabia was trying to avoid conflict with the Soviet Union.At that time,their relationships were not good,and they gradually diverged.Until the arrival of 1970 s,their relationship had improved markedly.During this period,Saudi Arabia thought that radical Arab nationalist was a true potential threat,and tried to improve relation with Turkey.As for Turkey,it was attempting to gain the support of Saudi Arabia on the Cyprus problem.In order to pursue common interests,they began to cooperate,especially in the fourth Middle East war.Comparing with the three previous Middle East war,Turkey's attitude was vastly different.As reflected by Turkey strongly opposed that Israel should not occupation of Arab territories,and had taken a pro-Saudi Arabia position.Thus,the relationships between Saudi Arabia and Turkey had improved.At the end of the Cold War,in order to further spread the pan-Islamism,the Saudi royal family hoped that Turkey could give political and diplomatic support.therefore,the Saudi government provided economic assistance to Turkey,and on the other hand,actively encouraged Turkey to join the religious organizations which were initiated by Saudi Arabia,their relationships moved toward normalization.By examining evolution and development of relations between the two countries throughout the Cold War,wecan learn that out of consideration of national strategic security interests,they started to move toward cooperation.Their relationships began to change from alienation to appeasement.Besides,trade cooperation and nongovernmental exchanges had became an important factor in promoting the further development of bilateral relations.