No one was expecting an intellectual to become the main topic of the world. Especially those political authorities who carried out this murder. This murder has become an issue of the Middle East and even of the world. Who made this possible? The Jamal Khashoggi murder isn’t just about a journalist’s disappearance. It tells us a lot about the political rivalry and conflict in the Middle East. The Americans and Saudis are after a utopia favoring oppressive and authoritarian regimes. Salman was prepared for this. Saudi Arabia already has been asking for a change. Because radicalism caused many troubles for them. Most of those who were killed in the 9/11 attacks were Saudi citizens. Also, oil will lose its importance as a valuable economic resource. Moreover, Egypt lost its agency, and Iran is determined to continue its radical policies by suppressing the reformist policies of Khatami that started in 2000s. Their determinacy is worrying the Saudis. Their expansionist policies and support of violent actions also proves this. Just like Saudi Arabia needs a new policy so does the Middle Eastern Muslim world.
Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman was promoted by Israel and Trump for this new policy. First they turned him into an actor, then they destroyed the whole tradition of the regime, and for the first time the son of the King was declared as the crown prince. The policy being promoted seems libertarian. They include women in daily life, become partners with a world power, and promote new investment projects for the future. However, what is at the background of all of this is that this reformist policy is actually based on huge massacres, oppression and arbitrary arrests. Many oppositional figures and scholars, primarily Shiites, were arrested. Some of them fled to other countries and some were killed. Salman was presented to the world’s public opinion as the new policy maker and leader of the Middle East. These authoritarian and brutal policies were ignored. Because the Saudis were seen as the only power that can stop the rebels, radicalism, terrorists and Iran. They wanted the historical dialectic of the Middle East to repeat itself in the modern era. Instead of rebels and terrorists, they wanted dictators to rule the region. As long as Israel gets powerful and the Westerners continue their plunder of oil, it was alright. The utopia they sought with the Arab Spring was presented through Salman.
The dictatorship of the 1970s, which was based on national socialism, was over. The Islamist policies which reached its heyday in 1979 with the Iranian Revolution, either turned into Al-Qaeda or took the form of a dictatorship like we have in Iran today. Salman was presented to the Muslims by Trump and Israel as the politician they were looking for.
Turkey is the third option in this political rivalry. It stands today as a country following a Muslim Middle Eastern policy which represents modernity, democracy and Islam together. Erdoğan is conquering the hearts of people with these policies. He forms a democratic, modern policy, Muslim and anti-imperialist vision in the region.
The Arab leaders, intellectuals and peoples who embrace these approaches and follow this third option have sympathy for Erdoğan. Jamal Khashoggi was a person representing this kind of sociology. The democrats in the American public opinion attached great importance to him because of this side of him. He was defending that the Muslim world had to change by embracing the state of law, human rights and the liberal market. His writings within this framework contradicted with Salman’s oppressive methods for reform. He was fitting well in Turkish politics.
By murdering Khashoggi in Istanbul, the U.S., Israel and Salman wanted to teach a lesson to both the followers of this third option and its leader, Turkey. However, Turkey carried out an extraordinary strategy and intelligence operation. It reversed the guns pointed at it back to those who wielded it. It unhesitantly shared all the details of the murder with news agencies from all over the world and brought it up to on the world’s agenda. The whole world saw this murder and the disgrace of the politicians who are related to it. Turkey, with these efforts, once again proved that it is a global power. For the first time, the whole world acted according to the information Turkey disseminated. Moreover, they, in a way, also supported the policy Turkey has been defending and representing (even though they didn’t want to).
Eventually, both Trump and King Salman had to step back. The Arab National Capitalism under the leadership of Salman took a great hit. The importance of democrats, those who are on the side of state of law and human rights has been realized once again. It was seen that the Middle East can only be reformed with policies produced in the Middle East. Turkey is the soul, leader and courage of this policy. It is the hope of the Middle East, Muslims and justice.
