Mecca - (AFP) - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan performed Umrah rituals at the Grand Mosque in Mecca on Friday, on the second day of his first visit to Saudi Arabia since the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul in 2018.

Erdogan walked among a group of his companions and guards in the courtyards of the mosque, along with large numbers of worshipers, whose numbers usually increase dramatically on the last Friday of Ramadan.

The Turkish president had discussed with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Jeddah on Thursday evening the development of relations between the two countries, following a bitter dispute in the wake of the murder of the Saudi journalist.

And the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) published pictures of the two leaders embracing, in what appeared to be a prelude to turning the page on tension between the two regional powers after the assassination of Khashoggi in his country's consulate in Istanbul at the hands of Saudi agents.
Erdogan, who seeks to improve his country's relations with regional powers in the midst of great economic difficulties, met Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz at the start of his first visit to the wealthy kingdom in nearly five years, then met with Crown Prince Mohammed.
During the meeting between Erdogan and the young prince, they reviewed the Saudi-Turkish relations, and opportunities for developing them in various fields, in addition to discussing developments in the regional and international situation and the efforts made in this regard, according to the agency.
Erdogan's last visit to the Kingdom dates back to 2017, when he tried to mediate in the diplomatic conflict between several Gulf states and Qatar, an ally of Ankara.
The Gulf states reconciled last year, while the region has witnessed diplomatic rapprochement in recent months, with economies particularly weak in the post-COVID-19 pandemic.