It is not right for the United States to pressure Saudi Arabia after the Riyadh-led OPEC+ alliance announced oil production cuts despite Washington's objections, Türkiye’s top diplomat said Friday.
“We see that a country has threatened Saudi Arabia, especially recently. This bullying is not correct,” Foreign Minister Mevlüt Cavuşoğlu said at a news conference in southern Türkiye.
President Joe Biden said last week that “there will be consequences” for U.S. relations with Saudi Arabia after OPEC+ announced it would cut its oil output target.
OPEC+, which includes Russia as well as Saudi Arabia, earlier this month said it would cut production by 2 million barrels a day as of November.
The move comes even though fuel markets remain tight, with inventories in major economies at lower levels than when OPEC cut output in the past.
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud has said the OPEC+ decision was purely economic and was taken unanimously by its member states.
“We don’t think it’s right for the U.S. to use it as an element of pressure on Saudi Arabia or any other country in this way,” Cavuşoğlu said.
Oil importer Türkiye and Saudi Arabia have this year moved to mend ties following a decade of tension, which escalated especially after the 2018 murder of dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Saudi Arabia’s Istanbul Consulate.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited Saudi Arabia in April, the first high-level visit in years. His trip was followed by Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s (MBS) trip to Türkiye in June.