Ajlan Al Ajlan, the Chair of Saudi Arabia’s Chamber of Commerce, called for a boycott of Turkish products last week. The boycott campaign has been spreading.
Popular public boycotts against Turkish goods have also been initiated in Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria and Egypt, following the boycott campaigns that were launched in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) against Turkish goods. Some Egyptian politicians have also stated that the boycott campaign can be used as a significant weapon to confront the ‘war politics’ of Turkey.
Ahram reported El-Badri Deif, the deputy chairman of the Egyptian parliament’s Economic Affairs Committee, as stating: “Boycotting Turkish products will help disrupt the military plans of (Turkish president) Recep Tayyip Erdoğan”. Deif has been advocating the boycott campaign for months. Egyptian journalist Mehmûd Bisyûnî also expressed his support for the recent boycott campaign.
Morocco has increased its customs duty on 200 imported products from Turkey by 90% for the next five years. According to data provided by Turkey’s Exporters’ Assembly’s (TİM), Turkey’s exports to Morocco reached US 2.24 billion dollars and to Algeria US 1.86 billion dollars in 2019.
Turkish companies have been encountering problems transporting their ready-made clothing products to North African countries in the recent period. According to Reuters, Morocco’s decision to increase its tariffs for five years against Turkish products may significantly impact upon all sectors of the Turkish economy.
The Alsadhan Group which represents one of the oldest stores in Riyadh has also supported the boycott campaign. Turkish companies are already complaining about the difficulties they are facing due to the boycott.
Relations between Turkey and Saudi Arabia had worsened since Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi (Cemal Kaşıkçı) was murdered in Saudi Arabia’s İstanbul Consulate in 2018.
According to Arabnews, political analyst Dr. Hamdan Al-Shehri said: “Turkish political mess-ups and interference in countries of the Middle East is the real reason behind this popular boycott of Turkish products”.