The 39th Gulf Cooperation Council meeting was held in Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh. One of the aims of the meeting was to plan a future focusing on Gulf countries, to remove all barriers in the way of realizing economic unity until 2025 within this framework and complete the necessary procedures to carry the United Gulf Military Command into practice. More precisely, this was how the declarations were made, and all the statements were in this direction as well. However, not once did anyone suggest a plan or program to actualize this goal. In fact, because of the embargo imposed on Qatar for two years by three-member states, we cannot talk about a Gulf Union anymore. This embargo, which was not approved by Kuwait and Oman but was not stated by them clearly either, before anything else was a step that ended the existence of the Gulf as a political and economic unity. This is the summary of the situation UAE Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed (MBZ) and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) put the region into with their adventurous, unruly, and untraditional personalities. This, in turn, constituted a major contradiction, known by all parties and which was also underlined at the last meeting, with the reality of the significance of the council.
The last meeting was held in 2017 when Qatar wasn’t even invited and conducted with the enthusiasm that the operation to eliminate it would continue. Again, in that meeting, Kuwait and Oman voiced their concern about the developments clearly and even declared that if things go on like this that they were worried that the notion of “Gulf” would no longer mean a political and economic unity.
To tell the truth, there is no unity in the Gulf. Cooperation, on the other hand, doesn’t exist except for extremely necessary cases. The UAE and Saudi Arabia under the control of MBZ and MBS and their agendas are quite different from the agenda of the GCC so far. They are trying to drag the entire Gulf into an adventure just like they did with their own countries to put it on a completely different path which will take them away from the priorities of the Muslim world: normalizing relations with Israel, further marginalizing the Palestinian cause, establishing a completely submissive relation with the U.S., and continuing cooperation in practice and therefore establishing a cold war order within the Muslim world. An adventure which brought bloodshed, oppression, tyranny, massacre to the entire Muslim world.
Returning from the adventurous journey of MBZ and MBS, at least for the Gulf Cooperation Council, it seems that the Khashoggi incident had a warning, or even a shocking impact.
Saudi King Salman b. Abdul-Aziz, who was the host of this year’s meeting, with a move that surprised everyone, invited the Qatari Emir to the meeting. This was actually also a sign that there will be a quick return from the policy ostracizing Qatar.
The pressure put on by the entire world on Saudi Arabia because of the Khashoggi incident seems like it is forcing the country to act more like a normal state. The embargo imposed on Qatar had no legitimacy and rationality in the first place anyway. What was demanded from Qatar was to shut down all the media and TV channels, especially Al Jazeera, stop supporting figures who are close to Ikhwan and completely submit itself to Saudi Arabia.
These demands perhaps did not get a sufficient reaction from the world because it seemed to be based on a certain logic within the framework of the dispute these countries have been in for a long time. However, the Khashoggi incident put the politics of the Gulf under the spotlight and made the incongruousness, abnormalities, irrationalities and human rights violations even more distinct. Today, everybody sees these bizarre realities in a different way, as a will that can carry out a murder such as Jamal Khashoggi’s.
From now on, everybody will see the situation these two put Yemen into in this way, as well as the support given to the putschist regime of Egypt’s Sisi, who massacred thousands of his people, the support given to Haftar, who entered Libya when there was more or less a national dialogue using the fight with terror as an excuse and deceiving everyone, and of course also the treatment of the businessmen, royal family members, and scholars who are being kept in prisons without any charge and without any accountability…
This perception is developing naturally. In a way, Khashoggi shed a light on these events with his own murder and with the way it was done.
Of course, the Qatari emir himself didn’t attend the Gulf Cooperation Council meeting hosted by King Salman b. Abdul-Aziz. However, a minister of state attended the meeting and represented Qatar. The final declaration actually gave hints about how things work in this council. As expected, Saudi Arabia evaluated the meeting as a means to give itself international support in the Khashoggi case. In this matter, Saudi Arabia’s very private statements were shared as a declaration of the council. It was stated that Saudi Arabia’s efforts to clarify the Khashoggi case and to establish justice are appreciated. It must be a joke. But considering the gravity of the situation, a joke is not appropriate now.
However, in the meeting itself, these things were not even mentioned, and these statements were not the kind that at least three-member states would put their signature under. Hence, Qatar objected to this declaration which was said to be “joint,” both because of these statements mentioned above and also since there was not even a word referring to the Qatar crisis. It is obvious that Saudi Arabia is not after the truth or seeking to establish justice in the Khashoggi case. But at least, it should not make inappropriate jokes in such a serious situation and “call on Turkey to cooperate more” to clarify the Khashoggi case.”
