Turkey and Saudi Arabia signed an agreement on Wednesday to mutually waive visa requirements for holders of diplomatic and special passports, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported, citing diplomatic sources.
The agreement was signed in Ankara by Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and his Saudi counterpart, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, following the third meeting of the Turkish-Saudi Coordination Council.
The deal will allow eligible passport holders to travel between the two countries without a visa for specified periods. Special passports, known in Turkey as “green passports,” are issued to certain current and former public officials, businesspeople whose exports exceed a certain threshold and eligible family members.
Prior to the agreement, all Turkish citizens, including holders of diplomatic, service, special and ordinary passports, were required to obtain a visa to travel to Saudi Arabia.
The agreement does not apply to ordinary passport holders, who will still need to meet the existing visa requirements for travel between the two countries. Turkish citizens having service passports, also known as “gray passports,” are also excluded from the agreement and will continue to need visas for travel to Saudi Arabia.
Saudi citizens, however, have been exempt from visa requirements for short-term tourist travel to Turkey since December 2023. A presidential decree published in Turkey’s Official Gazette on December 23, 2023, granted ordinary passport holders from Saudi Arabia, the United States, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Canada and Oman visa-free entry for tourist trips of up to 90 days within a 180-day period.
The move marks another step in the normalization of relations between Ankara and Riyadh, which were badly strained after the 2018 killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Consulate General in İstanbul.
Turkey at the time accused senior Saudi officials of orchestrating the killing, a charge Riyadh denied. The two countries have taken steps since 2020 to repair ties, including high-level visits and efforts to expand economic and diplomatic cooperation.
Reuters had reported on Tuesday that the two countries were expected to sign a visa waiver agreement during the ministers’ talks in Ankara.
The meeting comes as Turkey has sought to deepen ties with Gulf countries after years of tension, with Ankara and Riyadh increasingly emphasizing cooperation on trade, investment and regional diplomacy.