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With "friends" and allies like Turkey and Saudi Arabia, the Trump government has to ask: who needs a real enemy like Iran in the Middle East? Almost from the moment when Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi – a legal resident of the United States and contributor to the Washington Post – mysteriously disappeared in the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul in early October, the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has artfully exposed the Saudi lies to a regional rival's humiliation, keep the story in the headlines and thwart President Trump's attempts to save his administration's friendly relations with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The scandal is now threatening the structure of the US alliance in the Middle East and the Trump administration's strategy to isolate and contain Iran.
With carefully choreographed leaks, Erdogan's government continually undermined the shifting Saudi story that Khashoggi was leaving the consulate in good health, then strangled in a fight with Saudi officials, and then fell victim to a squad. thug ". Even President Trump has described Saudi explanations as "one of the worst in the history of cover-ups", and the latest version released on Thursday should not calm the crisis. The Saudis now claim that a team of 15 intelligence and security personnel, many of whom have close ties to the Crown Prince, has been sent to bring Khashoggi home. Instead, the team leader would have made the decision to kill Khashoggi with drugs, then dismember his body to evacuate him.
A man holds a poster showing Saudi Crown Prince Muhammed bin Salman and journalist Jamal Khashoggi, describing the prince as an "assassin" and Khashoggi as a "martyr" in Istanbul on November 16, 2018. (Photo: Emrah Gurel / AP)
Turkish officials, who say they have audio recordings that document the murder, challenge the latest version. The capture team included an autopsy expert who would have worn a bone saw and quickly rushed to dismember the body. The audio, which the Turks shared with the United States and other allies, also captured the leader of the team who allegedly asked a superior to phone the superior to "tell your boss" that the mission was accomplished. US intelligence experts say the "boss" is almost certainly a reference to the Crown Prince, known as "MBS", who has almost complete control over Saudi security and intelligence agencies.
<p class = "canvas-atom-text-canvas Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "Late Friday, the Washington Post reported that the CIA had concluded with "great confidence" that the killing had been ordered personally by the MBS. Last Friday, the Washington Post announced that the CIA had concluded with "great confidence" that the murder had been personally committed by MBS.
Erdogan called Khashoggi's death a "savage murder" that shocks "the human conscience".
<p class = "canvas-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "The irony of Erdogan rising for the" Observers note that under its increasingly autocratic regime, Turkey has become by far the most prolific gaoler in the world According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, Turkey is currently keeping more journalists on board that China, Russia and Egypt put together. World Index of Freedom of the Press, published by Reporters Without Borders, Turkey now ranks 157th out of 180 countries. After a failed coup against his government in 2016, Erdogan also arrested tens of thousands of alleged political opponents, stifling dissent and increasingly leading the reins of power in Turkey in his hand. iron. "Data-reactid =" 56 "> Erdogan, who fights for" human conscience "and the protection of journalists, are not forgotten, noting that, under his increasingly autocratic regime, Turkey has become by far the most The most prolific jailer of journalists in the world.Turkey currently has more journalists behind bars than China, Russia and Egypt combined.In the World Index of Press Freedom published by Reporters Without borders, Turkey now ranks 157th out of 180. After a failed coup in 2016 against his government, Erdogan arrested tens of thousands of alleged political opponents, stifling dissent and drawing more and more attention. more the reins of power in Turkey in his iron grip.
Erdogan talks to Ankara Airport about the Khashoggi assassination at the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul. (Photo: Presidential Press Service via AP, Pool)
"Khashoggi's assassination has given Erdogan an enormous leverage to claim moral superiority and structure the debate so as to reduce his regional rival, the MBS, and create a gap between Washington and Saudi Arabia," said Aykan. Erdemir, former member of the Turkish Parliament. who is a senior member of the Washington Foundation for the Defense of Democracy. "What is lost in this framework is that Erdogan is an authoritarian Islamist leader whose goal has been to undermine the liberal international order led by the United States. He regularly jails journalists and political opponents, engages in a "hostage diplomacy" with the United States, continues to defy sanctions against Iran, undermines US military operations against the United States. Islamic State in Syria and created a strategic pivot with Iran and Russia. And the Khashoggi crisis only made him more daring and emboldened. "
Khashoggi's death thus leaves the Trump administration torn between two tyrants. It is widely believed that one of them is responsible for the murder of a journalist residing in the United States and the biggest humanitarian crisis in the world, in Yemen, where the Saudi army is pursuing a campaign on burnt land against Iran-backed rebels. The other, Erdogan, is a persistent offender who defends human rights. He takes the Americans hostage for diplomatic pressure and increasingly aligns his country with American opponents such as Russia and Iran. The administration's strategy to make MBS and Saudi Arabia the backbone for containing Iran and reaching a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians is pending. This strategy is based on an exceptionally close personal relationship that Trump's son-in-law and counsel, Jared Kushner, quickly formed with MBS, which led Trump to make the decision to make Saudi Arabia the first country in which he rendered president last year.
"The Saudis have been instrumental in the politics of the Trump administration in the Middle East, mainly on the basis of the close relationship of the Trump family with MBS and the House of Saud, which is the type of family relationship. to a family with which the Saudi royals are really comfortable. but not how one would expect a democratic republic like ours to conduct its foreign policy, "said Eric Edelman, former US ambassador to Turkey and currently adviser to the Center for Strategic and Budget Assessments at Washington. "So while I recognize that the Trump administration has recognized Iran as the greatest strategic threat in the region, their strategy is now linked to a highly impulsive and impulsive monetary justice system, which seems to have serious problems with judgment. On the other side of the Khashoggi case, you have another authoritarian and impulsive ally to Erdogan, who is doing everything in his power to use the crisis to attack the Saudis in international opinion and to undermine US-Saudi relations ".
Trump is holding a painting highlighting arms sales to Saudi Arabia during a meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the Oval Office in Washington in March. (Photo: Evan Vucci / AP)
Whether or not the MBS survives the Khashoggi scandal, the Trump administration has probably invested too much in the US-Saudi partnership to risk a serious breakup. After torn apart the Iranian nuclear deal, the Trump government plans to contain Tehran, end a catastrophic conflict in Yemen and find a solution to any compromise between Israelis and Palestinians across Riyadh.
Turkey's determination to denounce the complicity of Saudi leaders in the assassination of Khashoggi must be hailed for human rights reasons, but in the long run it may not overshadow what some observers see as a discrepancy persistent strategy between Washington and Ankara.
<p class = "canvas-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "" After taking a beating in recent years for his rights of man, Erdogan relies on the Khashoggi scandal to assert himself as a principled international player, which is a bit absurd, "said Steven Cook, senior researcher for Middle East Studies and Research. At the Council on Foreign Relations and author of "Neither Friend nor Enemy: The Future of US-Turkish Relations,In an interview, Turkey's internal oppression, its military incursion into Syria and its strategic eastward tilt, he underlines, point to a more fundamental divergence of interests and values. officially a NATO ally, but we can not really say that she is a partner of the United States. " "Data-reactid =" 106 ">" After being beaten in recent years for his record in human rights, Erdogan relies on the scandal of Khashoggi to assert himself as an international player in principle, this which is rather absurd, "Steven Cook, Research Fellow for the Middle East and Africa at the Council on Foreign Relations and author of" Ni Ni Ni Foe Ni: The Future of Relations Between Turkey and the States " "The United States," he said in an interview, "Turkey's internal oppression, its military incursion into Syria and its strategic shift to the east," they say, suggest a more fundamental divergence of interests and values. " If Turkey officially remains an ally of NATO, you can not really say that it is a partner of the United States. "
<p class = "canvas-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "James Kitfield & nbsp; is a senior member of the Chair's Study Center. Congress."data-reactid =" 107 ">James Kitfield is a senior member of the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress.
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