When Interests Align
On October 2, Saudi opposition journalist Jamal Khashoggi entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey and never came out. His botched murder would go viral in a matter of hours, turning heads towards Riyadh.
In recent months, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has been cracking down hard on opposition, since his father had fallen ill. Just a year earlier, Saudi authorities had rounded up 11 princes, for the Crown Prince on charges of corruption and embezzlement within the state, but most Western analysts said the arrests were for him to consolidate his power.
Khashoggi had fallen out with the Saudi government about his criticisms of government reforms in the past year, which is why he left the country for the US.
Turkey instantly demanded answers from Saudi Arabia after the disappearance of Khashoggi, obviously giving themselves an exclusive right over the matter.
Of course, the Turkish authorities knew that Khashoggi had been murdered inside the consulate, it was clear that the consulate was under Turkish surveillance. However, Turkey could not admit that it was surveilling an embassy on Turkish territory to the world, not for now at least.
Saudi Arabia worked on finding a scapegoat, while Western media speculated that the Crown Prince could be behind it all.
The Saudis pointed fingers at 18 Saudi agents, holding them accountable for the death of the journalist. These 18 agents, accordingly, have gone rogue.
Coincidentally, tensions revolving around oil prices and production were rising between Saudi Arabia and the United States, just a month earlier.
Certainly, the disappearance of a Saudi opposition journalist would give the US all the leverage it needed. Conveniently for the US as well, oil prices have been partially falling due to the incident.
At first, US President Donald Trump demanded that Saudi Arabia be forthcoming with what had happened to Khashoggi but nevertheless went through with his arms deal to the Kingdom, saying that he could not afford to lose his “investments”.
The US position keeps shifting almost every day and they just might be playing around with Saudi Arabia to get what they want, whether that only has to do with oil or not, is debatable.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, however, refused to accept the Saudi account and basically tore it down.
He told Turkish Parliament that this was a premeditated murder and that it was definitely not an “accident”.
The Turkish President, again was careful to free the Crown Prince of any blame, saying that he just thinks the Saudi government could do a better job finding the culprit.
Both countries have been competing for the Middle East’s regional power throne. Erdogan is exercising his soft power on Saudi Arabia and throwing them under the “bright light”.
Just a day later, President Trump said that the Crown Prince “runs things over there”. Certainly, having another play in mind.
The Crown Prince has persisted that he had nothing to do with the murder and the guilty will be “brought to justice”.
We all are familiar with the phrase, “politics is a dirty game”.
Both the US and Turkey are making a show out of Saudi Arabia’s debacle, just so that they could get whatever they want from Riyadh.
While hiding under the curtain of a “human rights violation”, they had turned a serious human rights issue to a political spectacle.
Soon enough, as both Turkey and the US get what they want, this will all be blown over and Jamal Khashoggi’s name will be forgotten, another victim to the world of politics.
