Turkish business groups said that the Saudi authorities have escalated their measures against the country's exports to the kingdom, and have warned that this escalation is hurting global supply chains.
In a statement published on Saturday, the heads of the 8 largest Turkish business groups said that they had received complaints from Saudi companies that the kingdom's authorities forced them to sign letters obliging them not to import goods from Turkey, and Turkish groups complained of excluding Turkish contractors from major Saudi deals.
The groups pointed to the warning issued last month by AP Moller-Maersk Group - the world's largest container shipping company - about a potential disruption to global supply chains.
She also referred to the tweet of the Chairman of the Council of Saudi Chambers of Commerce, Ajlan Al-Ajlan, in which he called for a boycott of Turkish goods.
The boycott of everything Turkish, whether on the level of import, investment or tourism, is the responsibility of every Saudi "trader and consumer", in response to the continued hostility of the Turkish government against our leadership, our country and our citizens,
- Ajlan Al Ajlan (@ajlnalajlan) October 2, 2020
The signatory groups include textile exporters, contractors, industry leaders, prominent businessmen and trade union officials, as well as the Office of Foreign Economic Relations, the Exporters Association and the Federation of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges.
The joint statement said, "This issue has gone beyond bilateral economic relations and has become a problem related to global supply chains."
The statement added that "any official or informal initiative to disrupt trade between the two countries will have negative repercussions on our trade relations, and will harm the economies of the two countries and their people."
Turkey has not ruled out resorting to the World Trade Organization.