Breaking down the age-old rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Turkey: Tensions between regional rivals Saudi Arabia and Turkey has flared up over the past few weeks amid murder of Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, but the origins of the rocky relationship dates back centuries, Yaroslav Trofimov writes for the Wall Street Journal. Much like any relationship that begins with one side beheading the other side’s ruler, the two Sunni powers have long had their issues. Their storied (and violent) history saw multiple invasions and beheadings, but things really started to get heated when Turkish President Recep Erdogan began embracing “neo-Ottoman politics” with an eye on establishing Ankara as the new leader of the Muslim world. And what better way to do that than to prove that the crown prince of Saudi Arabia — the current de facto leader of the Muslims world — is unfit to rule?