ADITI UKEY
Will digging up the dirt on Khashoggi's murder do any good to the Middle East's power politics?
Picture credits - Middle East Eye
On 2nd October 2018, US-based Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi entered Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul, Turkey from where he never returned. Since then, multiple investigations and reports have pointed towards multifarious explanations of Khashoggi’s disappearance and subsequent death. Human rights activist Agnes Callamard released a hundred-page report on the incident and condemned the reluctance and refusal of Saudi Arabia to take swifter actions, while also suggesting that investigations on Saudi’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and other high-level Saudi officials be undertaken. While numerous attempts have been made for the assassination to be portrayed as a familial issue, there are serious political implications and backdrops to the incident which can be attributed to the Middle East’s regional powerplay.
Realist scholars claim that the race for states to attain the status of a regional or global power acts as a catalyst towards their actions in the international realm. However, much of the discourse surrounding the involvement of Saudi men backed by officials at close quarters with the Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman in Khashoggi’s murder inevitably suggests an extension of the Saudi Arabian identity. Afterall, Jamal Khashoggi’s inclinations towards criticizing the Saudi regime in his Washington Post articles did not sit well with the newfound position which Mohammed bin Salman held in the monarchy since 2015. Saudi Arabia’s fickle-mindedness in terms of statements referring to the death as well as its subsequent closed-door trials in 2019 of alleged conspirators in the murder have further tarnished the persona which MBS sought to uphold as a major regional and international stakeholder. The seemingly liberal expectations which the West hoped for from Saudi Arabia were drowned with the news of Khashoggi’s disappearance.
Furthermore, with the July 2020 developments surrounding Turkey’s trials of 20 Saudi nationals indicted over the killing of Khashoggi has sparked more debates around the powerplay which both Turkey and Saudi Arabia are engaging in. The indicted nationals include Saudi Arabia’s former Deputy Intelligence Chief Ahmed al-Assiri as well as the former Royal Court and Media Adviser Saud al-Qahtani. Both Saudi Arabia and Turkey have previously stood on opposing ends with regard to their power ambitions in the region. Qatar, which is Turkey’s closest ally in the region, faced a blockade orchestrated by none other than Mohammed bin Salman himself. Turkey’s neo-Ottomanism as well as its bid for the Muslim Brotherhood has attracted Saudi Arabia’s disapproval. The relations between both Saudi Arabia and Turkey further became strained when Saudi Arabia blocked the Turkish state news agency Anadolu post the news of Turkey’s indictment of 20 Saudis over the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. Turkey then reciprocated the move by blocking access to Saudi and Emirati news agencies in the country.
Therefore, the clash of identities as established by both Turkey and Saudi Arabia in holding the reins of the region’s power has inadvertently directed the course of the investigation surrounding Khashoggi’s murder. While a UN-led investigation could be a welcome move, the trials which are currently being led by Turkey will act as a massive contribution towards the case. This could very well be Erdogan’s ploy of throwing mud at the credibility of Saudi Arabia to lead the Muslim world; however, the evidence as backed by reports such as those of the CIA has supported the claims of Mohammed bin Salman’s involvement. Ultimately, nearly two years after the death of Jamal Khashoggi, the world awaits the aftermath of the trials with bated breath as this could possibly be a key determinant of Middle Eastern politics in the future.
The views expressed and suggestions made in the articles are solely of the authors in their personal capacity and the Center for Middle East Studies and O.P. Jindal Global University do not endorse the same.
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