Khashoggi affair, Erdogan tempts the prince

Now the attack is direct. And this is happening in the columns of the Washington Post. The sultan against the prince. Without further hints or indirect calls. In an editorial on the WP, Recep Tayyp Erdoğan made specific accusations regarding the Khashoggi case. "This order came from the highest level of the Saudi government." The Turkish president said that he was convinced that Saudi King Salman, Prince Mohammed's father, was not involved.

The Washington Post editorial is Erdoğan's most direct accusation against the Saudi summits and comes just a month after the badbadination of the dissident journalist. "I do not believe for a second that King Salman, guardian of the sacred mosques, has ordered the coup against Khashoggi," adds but the order to kill Jamal Khashoggi "came from the highest levels of government Saudi ", in all probability a part of the Saudi hereditary prince Mohammed bin Salman.

"Last month, Turkey did everything possible to shed light on all aspects of this case," writes Erdogan. These efforts, he continued, revealed that Khashoggi "was killed in cold blood by a death squad and it was determined that his badbadination was premeditated." The Turkish President emphasizes that there are still important questions that the Saudi authorities must answer. Notably with regard to the location of the journalist's body and the identity of the "local collaborator" to whom the Saudis claim to have entrusted the remains of Khashoggi. "We know that the perpetrators of the murder are among the 18 suspects arrested in Saudi Arabia, we also know that these people came to execute orders: to kill Khashoggi and go away," wrote the "Sultan" of Saudi Arabia. , Ankara.

The "long friendship" between Turkey and Saudi Arabia, the editorial continues, "will not turn a blind eye to premeditated murder". And the other: "The refusal of the Saudi prosecutor to cooperate with the Turkish investigation and to answer simple questions is very frustrating." Erdoğan, according to badysts and diplomatic sources in Ankara and in the most influential Arab capitals, wants to take advantage of this crisis of image, and not only of MbS and the Saudi monarchy, to revive the centrality of Turkey (which can count on mbadive financial support from Qatar) in the Sunni world and in the determination of the new balance of power in the Greater Middle East. Business and geopolitics.

In The Donald, Erdoğan asks to support, directly or indirectly, the Turkish economy and, above all, not to override, even with public statements, the law that Erdoğan will send to Parliament by the end of the year. will allow the transfer to the Treasury of the main shares held by the Chp opposition party of Isbank Bank, the largest publicly traded institution in Turkey. The country's social democratic and secular party holds 28% of the shares of Isbank, a bank created by Kemal Ataturk, founder of modern Turkey. The bill is not limited to this "scope". Erdoğan relies on the petromiliardi of Qatar to support the Turkish lira and not rush the stock market.

And against Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabia has long been deployed with its Sunni satellites – from Bahrain, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates – that accuse Doha of being too open and doing business with the Iranian enemy. And the tough crown against Qatar is the Crown Prince, MbS. Erdoğan asks the tenant of the White House to insist that this ostracism come to an end. Last August, in the midst of the monetary storm, the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, approved a set of projects, investments and economic deposits of value. $ 15 billion to support the economy and read it. Turkish. The currency this year has lost nearly 40% of its value against the dollar.

And then there is Syria. Ankara aims to create a "buffer zone", a sort of protectorate run by the Syrian-based Free Syrian Army in the Syrian-Turkish border area. A demand that Erdoğan repeatedly reiterated to his partners in the war in Syria, Russia and Iran, but which would gain in strength and possibility of realization if it were supported by the United States. Last but not leastErdoğan puts on the table a non-negotiable demand: the end of the US military support to the Syrian Kurdish militias, the YPG (the first unit of protection of the people) in primis, which Ankara considers, like the PKK , like terrorist groups.

The acceleration imposed by the Turkish President comes on the eve of an appointment of great importance in the Khashoggi case: next Monday, the Human Rights Council the United Nations must submit to Saudi Arabia the universal periodic review. Faced with this event, Amnesty International warned the 193 UN member states that their credibility would be jeopardized on this occasion. "UN Member States must break their deafening silence and fulfill their duty by examining the cruelties committed in Saudi Arabia to prevent further scandalous violations of human rights in the country. and Yemen, "said Samah Hadid, director of Amnesty International campaigns on the Middle East.

"The long-standing crackdown on criticism by the Saudi government, exemplified by the recent extrajudicial execution of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, has so far been stubbornly ignored by the UN member states," said Hadid. "The deadly death of Jamal Khashoggi has shown how much the Saudi authorities are willing to suppress a peaceful dissent: since Mohammad bin Salman became crown prince, the repression has only worsened," says Hadid .

In its report entitled "Human Rights-Free Reforms", published in July 2018, Amnesty International listed human rights violations in Saudi Arabia: systematic suppression of freedom of expression and freedom of expression. expression, repression of violence. human rights defenders, increased capital punishment, discrimination against women and the Shia minority and serious violations against civilians during the devastating armed conflict in Yemen .

"Never before has there been vigorous scrutiny and action on the part of the UN Member States." The international community has a duty to call on the Saudi authorities to respond to the ongoing crackdown they are waging against human rights and its violations in the context of the conflict Yemeni states that have a significant influence on Saudi Arabia must do everything in their power to prevent further violations and to put pressure on the authorities of the country. Kingdom to implement serious reforms in the field of human rights, starting with the immediate and unconditional release of the country, all prisoners of conscience, including human rights defenders. And the abolition of the male welfare system, "said Hadid. "All States supplying arms to Saudi Arabia and its coalition members in Yemen should suspend all submissions, since, based on the evidence presented by Amnesty International, these supplies could be used to commit serious violations and possible war crimes. in Yemen, "Hadid concluded.

The Saudi kingdom is for many Western countries a privileged trading partner of the arms sector. Riyadh actually occupies second place, right after India, for the volume of imports between 2013 and 2017. According to a study by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri), imports of the last five years of arms increased by 225% over the period 2008-2012. The United States and Great Britain are among the leading exporters to Saudi Arabia, with volumes accounting for about 61% and 235% of the total. Italy and Spain join the two English-speaking giants, who hold a significant share of the market.

In March 2018, the US State Department announced the sale of weapons to Saudis worth about one billion dollars, including missiles, spare parts for tanks badault and helicopters made in the United States. This agreement was the result of the meeting, a few days earlier, between Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman and Secretary of Defense James Mattis, who revived the Washington-Riyadh axis in an anti-Iranian key. SIPRI researcher Pieter Wezema points out: "To date, the United States and Europe are the largest arms exporters in the region and together they have supplied 98% of the weapons. [al regno wahhabita]"A flourishing market that has not stopped in the face of accusations by UN Secretary-General António Guterres, who has put Riyadh on the blacklist of countries that violate the rights of children in areas of conflict To preserve the agreements, there is the United States, through the intermediary of Donald Trump himself, who said: "I certainly do not like the idea of ​​ending a investment of 110 billion dollars ".

In agreement with Trump, the Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, who, despite denouncing the "terrible badbadination", reaffirms the priority: "The defense of the interests of Spain, work in a strategic sector located for the most part in a region". [del Paese] where the unemployment rate is already high. On the same wavelength, Emmanuel Macron, who pronounced on October 26 in favor of the heavy sanctions imposed by the EU to the guilty of the murder, defining instead "demagogic" the possibility of limit penalties for the sale of weapons.

According to the French president, the problem of the sale of weapons has nothing to do with the killing of Khashoggi. But there are those who dispute this "certainty" and the star: Jamal Khashoggi was about to reveal the use of chemical weapons by Saudi Arabia in Yemen: this would be the cause of his badbadination in front of the consulate of Saudi Arabia in Istanbul on October 2nd. This is reported by the Daily Express, which mentions a Middle Eastern academic who does not want to be named. I met him a week before his death. He was unhappy and worried. When I asked him the reason for the concern, he did not want to answer, but in the end he told me that he had obtained information according to which he had been told. Saudi Arabia had used chemical weapons. [nello Yemen]. He explained that he hoped to obtain documentary evidence. "He did not have time.