Ankara’s relentless pursuit of the culprits behind the murder of dissident Jamaal Khashoggi reached a crescendo on Friday, as pro-AKP Hurriyet columnist Mr. Abdulkadir Selvi claimed CIA has taped a conversation between Prince Mohammed bin Salman and his brother ambassador to the United States Khalid bin Salman, in which the crown prince allegedly passed orders to “silence Jamal Khashoggi as soon as possible.” A compromise is still possible as Bloomberg reports a potential meeting between MBS and Erdogan at the sidelines of G-20 summit in Argentina. In the meantime, royalists in Saudi Arabia are urging their compatriot to boycott Turkish products, which could hurt Turkey’s ca. $3.5 bn exports to the kingdom, while Saudi purchases of houses in Turkey has already dropped. A continuation of the conflict could lead to fewer tourists from the Gulf in spring-summer 2019, adding to the woes of the anemic Turkish economy.

Saudi “fire flies” go into overdrive

Pro-Riyadh Twitter accounts – known in the region as the “electronic flies” – went into overdrive on Sunday promoting the boycott of Turkish tourism with an Arabic-language hashtag #BoycottTurkishTourism.

The accounts accused Turkish authorities of misleading the world on the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul.

Evidence that appears to link the murder of Khashoggi and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has also angered regime loyalists.

The boycott campaign avoids direct mention of this and instead focuses on the more than century-old Ottoman occupation of parts of modern-day Saudi Arabia and the Turkish dynasty’s “historical crimes committed against Arabs”.

The hashtag has garnered over 50,000 mentions on Twitter.

Riyadh is important to Turkey’s tourism sector with around 650,000 high-spending Saudi tourists visiting Turkey last year.

Biscuits and yoghurt as weapons of diplomatic suasion

Biscuits and yogurt are emerging as weapons of choice for Saudis lashing out at Turkey for hounding their government over the grisly murder of Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul, reports Bloomberg.com.

Pro-government Saudis have been calling for a boycott of Turkish products on Twitter. Among the biggest targets are dairy producer Pinar Sut Mamulleri Sanayii AS and Ulker Biskuvi Sanayi AS, which has two plants in Saudi Arabia and ranks No. 1 in its biscuits market.

For Turkey, the showdown couldn’t come at a worse time; its economy is already battered by a currency crisis that’s touched off inflation and raised the risk of recession. The economic pain won’t be immediate, but the fallout is evident in the real estate market. Saudis, among the top foreign buyers of Turkish properties in 2017, ranked as only the sixth-largest last month, when their purchases plunged 37 percent, according to official data.

The unease might also feed through to stocks, “provided that the tension intensifies and these are seriously taken into consideration by Saudis,” Melis Pocar, vice president for research at Oyak Yatirim, said in a note. Ulker and Pinar, for which Saudi Arabia is the top export market, are the two companies that could be particularly affected, she said.

Meeting possible between prince and president

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan could meet Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Argentina, his spokesman said on Thursday.

“We are looking at the schedule, there could be [a meeting],” said Erdogan’s spokesman Ibrahim Kalin, according to state news agency Anadolu.

The G20 summit begins on November 30 in Argentina. This would be the first meeting between Erdogan and Mohammed since the murder of the Saudi dissident and journalist Jamal Khashoggi at Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul on October 2.

The crown prince will go on a regional tour before heading to the G20, which will be his first trip outside the kingdom since Khashoggi’s killing.