Under siege by Turkey, Saudi King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud and his son Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman are trying to ensure their base at home. An unprecedented royal tour, pardons and bonuses for workers are parts of a program to protect the embattled crown prince from the fallout from the Istanbul caper. The United States, especially when it comes to Congress, is a wild card in the still-evolving situation.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan seems determined to pursue those responsible for the premeditated murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2. Erdogan has allowed a steady drip of leaks about the Saudi hit team that flew in to Istanbul to commit the murder and its gruesome actions. Occasionally Erdogan publicly discusses the case to confirm key pieces of evidence such as the existence of an audio recording of the murder. It’s hypocritical, of course, for Erdogan to be defending journalists, but he has other motives involving his ambitions to be the pre-eminent Muslim leader of his time.
Erdogan has consistently said he is confident the king is innocent, thereby implicitly suggesting that the crown prince is the mastermind of the murder. Does Erdogan have the evidence to prove it? The pro-government Turkish press reported last month that the leader of the hit team in the consulate made four calls to Riyadh during the day of the murder. The calls reportedly were to Bader al-Asakar, the crown prince’s chief of staff. If these calls happened, did Turkish authorities monitor them? Do they have tapes? Is this a smoking gun? Erdogan knows. He probably has other evidence, including forensics that are damning and revealing. The Turkish press is saying that it will soon publish more details about how the body was disposed of. Erdogan seems to be in no hurry to get the truth out; he is enjoying watching the Saudis squirm.
The Saudis also know the truth. Their flimsy cover story about a rogue operation simply is not credible. It is undermined by the very nature of the crown prince’s track record for reckless micromanagement.
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