Boycott campaign against Turkish goods a new slap on Erdogan's face
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates dealt the Turkish economy a painful blow by boycotting Turkish goods, in protest against the policies of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Public boycott of
Turkish goods in the two countries has started taking a serious turn since the
beginning of October.
Painful blow
The call for boycotting
Turkish goods was made by Ujlan al-Ujlan, the chairman of the board of the
Riyadh Chamber of Commerce, on October 2.
He called boycotting
all Turkish goods. He also asked Saudis to abstain from investing in or travel
to Turkey for tourism.
Ujlan renewed his call
for boycotting Turkish goods on October 14.
"I say it clearly
and surely: no investment in, no importing from and no travel to Turkey,"
he wrote on Twitter. "As citizens and businessmen, we will not deal with
anything that is Turkish."
A hashtag on boycotting
Turkish goods has become the most popular on Twitter in Saudi Arabia, the UAE,
Bahrain and Egypt.
Boycott as a
weapon
One of those
participating in the boycott campaign was Saudi prince Abdel Rahman bin Musaed
bin Abdel Aziz.
He said his calls for
boycotting Turkish goods were part of a public reaction against Erdogan's policies
against Riyadh.
"The campaign does
not target the Turkish people in anyway," he wrote on Twitter.
Tweeps, including
writers, said boycott is a peaceful weapon for deterring those who cause harm
for Arab countries.
They called for
substituting Turkish goods with locally-made products.
Boycott, they said, is
a national duty. They added that alternatives to Turkish goods are available
everywhere in Arab markets.
Against
Erdogan
UAE writer Mohamed
al-Hamadi, who heads the UAE Jouralists' Union, described boycott as a
disciplined method for deterring those who commit violations against Arab
countries.
The campaign is paying
off and Turkish traders are starting to feel the heat from it.
A group of Turkish
traders issued a statement, in which they expected the campaign to negatively
affect international supply chains.
