Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has paid a visit to Qatar – a country he sees as a foul-weather friend – amid the dramatic depreciation of the Turkish lira, a worsening hard-currency crunch and popular fears of a fire sale of national assets at home. The Dec. 6-7 visit, which took place against the backdrop of Turkey’s efforts to break its regional isolation and mend fences with Egypt, Israel and Gulf heavyweights, yielded 15 bilateral accords.
However, the deals are of little economic worth, envisioning cooperation in areas such as emergency response and civil defense, diplomacy, culture, healthcare, religious affairs, the media and the academy. Although such an outcome may have disappointed Erdogan, it does not eclipse the Qatari investments in Turkey since the country’s currency crisis erupted in 2018 amid political tensions with Washington.
