As more details of the incident are revealed, it is becoming clearer that the target of the Khashoggi murder was not only the journalist. Of course, Khashoggi had ideas and approaches that angered his murderers. He also had the capability to counsel the opposition and the ability to play a key role in their organization, and he had been engaging in such activities too.
One may think that these reasons were sufficient for his murderers to kill him. However, a detail in the plan of the murder which was also partly realized insinuates that this ploy might also target Turkey, and that damaging Turkey was the primary objective before Khashoggi’s murder.
The detail I am referring to is the body double who was arranged to replace Khashoggi. The double, Mustafa Mohammad al-Madani, whose height is the approximately the same as Khashoggi’s, was specially chosen to kill Khashoggi, and he was brought all the way from Riyadh to Istanbul Atatürk Airport in a private jet that landed that morning.
Body double Madani’s only mission was to disguise himself in Khashoggi’s clothes, openly leave the consulate, go to Sultanahmet and disappear there in a public toilet. It was believed that it wouldn’t be noticed if he left the toilet cubicle wearing his own clothes, which he carried with him all along.
This plan was implemented. If the events unfolded in another manner, if this fraud was not unmasked, today we would be watching the reflections of a scenario which would indicate that Khashoggi was last seen in a public toilet and he could have been abducted there.
I assure you in the case of such a scenario, the role Saudi Arabia would assume would be searching for their world-famous, respectable, intellectual citizen and calling Turkey to account for his disappearance. In this scenario, the body would not be found but you can imagine what kind of message would be given to the intellectuals, entrepreneurs and ordinary citizens of the Muslim world regarding Turkey, where a citizen of Saudi Arabia who was in an important position like Khashoggi was kidnapped and his fate unknown.
You can be sure that they had already prepared the money they were planning to pay to their troll armies which would spread messages showing “Turkey as an unreliable country.”
Turkey, on the other hand, would be helplessly defending itself, feeling the shame of not being able to prevent the vanishing of this world-famous and respectable person. Sultanahmet was not randomly selected as the locatıon for this disappearance. Sultanahmet is the iconic symbol of Istanbul, it is essentially Turkey’s global trademark.
Would this ploy run smoothly even if everything had gone the way it was planned? Of course, Turkey would be making many moves to prove otherwise, but until Ankara did so successfully, it would already be too late.
Let’s say this again. The only thing they didn’t take into account was the possibility of Khashoggi’s fiancée waiting for him outside the consulate. Hence, long before Ms. Hatice decided that she need to call some people, as early as when she asked about Khashoggi to the consulate staff, it seems that a panic started inside the consulate or inside the residency and from that moment on they were in a frenzy. From this, we understand that there was no backup plan for the possibility of getting caught and they were initially believed everything would go as planned.
It is clear now that this plan extends beyond getting rid of Khashoggi. When the body double detail was scrutinized, the attack planned on Turkey was deciphered. That is why Turkey is not only responsible for fulfilling its moral duty in the Khashoggi murder, but beyond that, it is also responsible for calling those who deliberately attempted to eliminate Turkey to account.
The nonsense questions in Kılıçdaroğlu’s mind
The whole world is watching and lauding Turkey for its efforts in the Khashoggi case. While the excellent management of the matter, which has the potential to become a global crisis, by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan forms an example for the world, the performance of Turkey’s opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu’s for the sake of causing friction is also regrettably being followed.
We are at a place where we could say, “At least don’t do that for this matter.” But Kılıçdaroğlu cannot stop himself and is doing what he always does, even at this moment. His actions are helping the cause of the murderers, and he is strengthening those trolls’ hand by revealing unverified information about the murder.
He has been listing nonsense queries saying he has “tricky questions in his mind” without asking and finding out the answers.
I was going to say that nonsense can never be rationalized, but I could not ignore the paradox he set forth by mentioning my name. Because, in the best-case scenario, these nonsense questions clearly show the imbalance of the perception of time and place in his mind.
By inferring from the fact that I informed the authorities right after the phone call I received from Hatice Cengiz, he asks why the murderers who escaped via the General Aviation Terminal were not captured, and how could they possibly escape. When did he ask this question? 22 days after the incident, when those suspects were identified as the murderers. Well, were these people were known as the murderers at that moment? No. Was it known that Khashoggi was murdered? No. Was it known that those suspects were linked with Khashoggi’s disappearance? Of course not. Then, how could a diplomatic team be detained by citing a reason based upon information that was only obtained half an hour ago?
It seems that Kılıçdaroğlu thinks this is possible because of the perception of time in his mind, but it also seems that he is not able to understand that the information which is available today, 20 days after the murder, was not available 20 days ago.
In fact, some measures could have been taken at the airport in case Khashoggi was abducted. Were these measures taken? Yes, they were. Hence, video footage showing the murderers’ departure was shared with the public. Both the suspects and their bags were searched with devices as well as by the security staff. Khashoggi was not with them and there was no package with them which they could possibly be carrying some of his body parts. The rest is just Kılıçdaroğlu whistling dixie.
