Daily Times

The Saudi public prosecutor has said that he will seek the death penalty for the five suspects charged with ordering and carrying out the brutal and targeted assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. As expected, Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS) has not been implicated. The Kingdom is now asking Ankara to hand over the audio recordings of the murder.

From the offset, this has been Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s show. And while his detractors accuse the Turkish President of disclosing relevant information drip by slow drip to remain centre stage — his supporters point out that he has single-handedly maintained pressure on the Saudis. Though, of course, he has stopped far short of accusing King Salman of any wrongdoing; preferring to talk of his endless respect for the monarch.

That being said, when Erdogan swept into Paris at the weekend to honour the fallen soldiers of the First World War he reportedly shared the aforementioned audio recordings with the US, Britain, France and Germany. Thus, regardless of any underlying agenda, Ankara is trying to keep the major western powers on their toes. After all, domestic pressure is growing in these countries and beyond for governments to pull the plug on lucrative arms deals to the Kingdom; as the war in Yemen rages on.

Pundits have emphasised that as the only Muslim member of NATO, Turkey and the US enjoy a special strategic relationship. Meaning that Trump Town cannot lord it over Ankara the way it might do with other countries in the Middle East. And while Remembrance Day represented the perfect opportunity to sit down with world leaders — it must be noted that this conveniently coincided with the aftermath of the US mid-terms. Though analysts remain divided over whether or not this worked to the Republican advantage.

Of course, nothing less than an international probe ought to be acceptable. This should ideally be led by an expert UN panel that includes representatives of global advocates for journalists’ rights. Because as things currently stand, the Saudis are effectively investigating themselves. Yet if things carry on as they are, the risk is that what should be a justice-driven narrative will give way to legitimate criticism of Erdogan’s record at home of locking up representatives of the fourth estate. After all, as the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) noted back at the end of last year: “Turkey remains the world’s worst jailer for the second consecutive year, with 73 journalists behind bars.” Critics have been quick to highlight how such artificial distinctions between “good” and “bad” journalists are akin to the Saudi perspective.

Yet a more pragmatic approach would be to support the Turkish President in the short-term as he campaigns for Khashoggi’s murders to be brought to book. And once that is delivered, the international community would be in a stronger position to take him to task over this glaring double standard on the domestic front. As journalists around the world continue to call out ongoing arms sales to Saudi Arabia. For as far as this sorry tale goes — no one has clean hands.  *

Published in Daily Times, November 16^th 2018.