Against the current: Qatar tries to save Erdogan’s sinking ship

Nora Bandary

Just days after Ajlan Al-Ajlan, chairman of the Council of Saudi Chambers, launched a campaign on October 14 to boycott Turkish products in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which has caused great harm to the Turkish economy, the Qatari regime appeared to save its Turkish ally by starting a counter campaign to support Turkish products.

The Saudi and Emirati boycotts on Turkish products, which pushed many countries to follow the same approach, came due to their rejection of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s policies that undermine the security and stability of the region. This has caused a heavy blow to the Turkish economy, which is suffering from the deterioration and collapse of its local currency, which is recording its lowest level against the US dollar day after day.

Ankara’s Qatari savior

With the escalation of the popular boycott campaign and the trending hashtag #BoycottTurkish_products in a number of Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt, Qatar announced a counter campaign to support Turkish products. The Turkish Demirören News Agency (DHA) reported on October 22 that the Qatari authorities began a campaign to save Ankara’s economy, making Qatari merchants raise the slogan “Buy only Turkish products” and hang advertisements for Turkish goods alongside the Turkish flag.

This comes after several Turkish companies announced being harmed by the popular boycott campaigns aimed at stopping the purchase of Turkish products in Saudi Arabia, while some Turkish exporters announced their products being delayed in Saudi customs, which prompted them to demand a resolution to this crisis in order to save their goods and money.

Doha began to promote its own counter campaign, and its shops began organizing promotional campaigns for Turkish products on October 25, trying to attract foreigners residing in Doha to buy Turkish products, after placing various offers and discounts on them. In addition, products from other countries were replaced with Turkish products, according to Turkish media.

The Rawnaq chain is one of the largest Qatari stores that promoted the campaign to support Turkish products, which prompted Turkish Ambassador to Qatar Mustafa Goksu on October 25 to visit the company and thank it for all the efforts it made to support Turkish products.

It is worth noting that this is not the first time that Arab countries have announced a campaign to boycott Turkish products. In May, social media activists from different Arab countries launched a campaign to boycott Turkish products because of their rejection of Erdogan’s policies, his interference in the affairs of Arab countries, and his support for terrorism in the region.

Qatari messages and goals

Regarding Doha’s support for Ankara at this time, Hisham al-Najjar, a researcher specializing in Islamist movements, explained that Qatar is attempting to rescue the Turkish regime, which is Doha’s main supporter, because if the Erdogan regime collapses, it would cause imminent danger to the Qatari regime, which would fall by extension, because the two regimes are existentially linked.

Najjar added in a statement to the Reference that the messages sent by Qatar are clear. Doha is showing that it is siding with its ally against the Arab attempts to punish Ankara for its transgressions, meaning that it supports Erdogan’s violations and is supporting him against the Saudi boycott.

Najjar pointed out that the campaign to boycott Turkish products, which was initiated by Saudi Arabia, has achieved great results and began to spread to multiple Arab countries to punish the Turkish regime for its violations and abuses, its interference in the affairs of other countries, and the chaos it causes in the region. This prompted the Turkish regime to try to divert attention by promoting the idea that Erdogan is an Islamic savior and leader who is fighting a jihad for Islam against Western crusader aggression.