On October 2, 2018, Jamal Khashoggi walked into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Within minutes, Khashoggi was killed, beheaded and dismembered, according to audio recordings leaked by the Turkish government. Freaky? Yes. Huge international crisis? Definitely.
So, who is Jamal Khashoggi?
Khashoggi is a Saudi journalist, author and contributor for the Washington Post Global Opinions column. Critical of the Saudi government, Khashoggi was in self-exile and reportedly banned from Twitter by his government.
He went to the Saudi consulate in Turkey to obtain marriage documents while his fiancée, a Turkish national, waited outside. When the consulate closed and Khashoggi had not reemerged from the consulate, his fiancée called the police.
A reminder about Saudi Arabia:
You might be thinking of Saudia Arabia as a repressive country, which is mostly true.
Women were finally allowed to drive in June of 2018, making Saudi Arabia the last country to allow this. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman received most of the credit, even though women’s rights activists in Saudi Arabia campaigned for reform for years. Right before the ban was lifted, several women’s rights activists were arrested by Saudi authorities. This crackdown was a result of these women reportedly “being traitors to the state and collaborating with ‘foreign entities.’” The message that Saudi Arabia government sent through this ordeal? ‘Hey, only we can give you freedoms, and we’ll take them away if we want to, too.’
Okay, now where does Turkey stand in this?
Turkey asked for access to the consulate in order to investigate and Saudi Arabia denied any claims that Khashoggi was dead or still inside the consulate. However, Saudi Arabia allowed Turkish officials access to the consulate, but not before a cleaning crew got there first. After inspecting the consulate, Turkish officials found surfaces had been freshly painted over, according to Erdogan, the President of Turkey.
Reports state that Turkish officials are standing by their claim that a hit team of 15 Saudis killed and dismembered Khashoggi. The Turkish government also recently released the (very gruesome) audio recordings describing Khashoggi’s death. Turkey is standing by its assertions that Saudi officials, and likely high ranking officials, are responsible for Mr. Khashoggi’s death.
What is Trump’s view?
Trump wants to stay on Saudi Arabia’s good side, but is also being urged to remember that, you know, fundamental human rights most likely were violated.
At first, Trump seemed to give cover for the Saudi government, which he later denied. Then, he questioned any existence of an audio recording and warned against possible consequences of blaming Saudi Arabia. Eventually, Trump changed his views a bit and said he believes Khashoggi is dead. He continued to say that if Saudi Arabia is at fault, consequences “will have to be very severe. It’s bad, bad stuff.” Bad, bad stuff indeed.
On another note, reports indicate that Trump may have personal financial ties to the Saudi Kingdom, which could create conflicts of interest when defending the Kingdom.
What are the diplomatic implications?
This could make the rocky relationship between two of the most powerful Middle Eastern countries even worse. The bad blood started when they backed opposing sides during the Arab Spring uprisings. The relationship only worsened after the Qatar diplomatic crisis, when Turkey backed Qatar. Saudi Arabia said ‘yeah, not cool Turkey’ because they believed Qatar was supporting terrorism and violated a 2014 agreement with members of the Gulf Cooperation Council.
The U.S. and Saudi Arabia have been working hard to build an alliance and have a good relationship. Not only does Saudi Arabia have valuable access to oil, but it is also important to the U.S. for economic reasons, including investments and military contracts.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with Erdogan, but did not express any concern about the legitimacy of a Saudi investigation – even though most believe a fair investigation by the Saudi’s is impossible if the murder was ordered by the crown prince. Yeah, it’s only slightly complicated.
Anything else?
It’s looking likely that the Saudi crown prince had knowledge of Khashoggi’s murder, as several of the suspects have close ties to the crown prince. If implicated, this would be yet another way that Saudi Arabia has violated human rights and attempted to diminish free speech. Multiple investigations are underway in order to determine what actually happened to Jamal Khashoggi.
If Saudi Arabia is found to be at fault, it can greatly harm the US-Saudi relationship the Trump administration has been focused on building.
Jamal Khashoggi’s death is a big deal. While you might think the Saudi war in Yemen, which is quickly becoming one of the worst humanitarian disasters in years, would strain US-Saudi relations, it never has had as much of an impact as Khashoggi’s death has. His death is making some Americans genuinely question the U.S.-Saudi relationship. It is also making others question how committed the Saudi crown prince is to a modern and more humanitarian society, as well as how fitted Trump is for handling foreign affairs given his personal and business ties to other countries.
Update (Oct. 19, 2018 at 9:30 pm)
The Saudi consulate in Istanbul has stated Jamal Khashoggi died after a fight in the Saudi consulate. 18 Saudi nationals have been arrested in relation to the murder.
Thanks for sharing! I have been reading a lot about Jamal Khashoggi’s death in the news this past week, but I found your breakdown of the information extremely helpful. Specifically, I thought your language and use of subheadings contributed to an, overall, clear tone and organized post.
Also, I appreciated the background information you provided about Saudi Arabia as a country and about its tense relations with Turkey. I was not familiar with it prior to reading your post, and learning it offered necessary context. Your hyperlinks to other articles were a great way for me to familiarize myself with my background information and current events.
I saw that you updated your post to note that the Saudi consulate in Istanbul announced that Khashoggi died after a fight. Earlier this evening, I saw that the Saudi Arabia Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir acknowledged that Khashoggi was murdered but declared it was a mistake and part of a rogue operation. I am interested to see where this story goes and what information will be uncovered in the next several days. Specifically, it will be interesting to learn how new information will affect diplomatic relations, as your briefly discussed in this entry.
I am looking forward to reading your next post!
Thanks Sarah for your update. I enjoyed reading your blog.,
That was a great breakdown of the Khashoggi case, Sarah. You really hit all the important details to an average reader who is trying to make sense of all the media coverage of this event. The entire tone of the post was very informative and not partisan – feeling very similar to daily email newsletters that give breakdowns of major current events. This is the type of content that appeal to a lot of people and keep a loyal audience! In other words, keep up the good work.
I liked the structure of your story as well. As a college student who is just beginning to immerse myself in the loop of current events, by including background information on the Arab spring and other diplomatic crises, I have a more holistic understanding of the implications of his assassination. I wonder if maybe adding consistent updates to each post would be even more effective as a current events blog.
This is a difficult case to cover and I’m excited for your future posts. The addition of the “Trump’s View” section is also compelling. I hope for other international events you include a similar section, since it is often controversial, but your unbiased report is a crucial element to our country’s current events.