Tension builds over writer’s killing
Turkish president accuses Saudi prince of murder
ISTANBUL — President Recep Tayyip Erdogan swept into Ankara’s wood-paneled Parliament on Tuesday to level his most direct attack yet against Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia, accusing his government of planning the “savage murder” and mutilation of dissident writer Jamal Khashoggi.
Hours later, Crown Prince Mohammed bounded into the gilded conference hall of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Riyadh to a standing ovation from scores of oil executives, bankers and other businessmen who had risked association with scandal over the killing of Khashoggi for a chance to profit from the kingdom’s vast wealth.
“More people, more money,” the crown prince told reporters, pronouncing the event a success despite the withdrawal of dozens of speakers and the pleas of many businessmen for him to spare them embarrassment by calling it off.
Their competing stage shows on Tuesday were the latest salvos in an increasingly high-stakes battle that no longer appears to leave either one room for retreat, pitting against each other two U.S. allies who have each aspired to be the leader of their region.
In Washington, President Donald Trump made his strongest criticism yet of his Saudi ally. He pronounced the latest official Saudi account of Khashoggi’s disappearance — that he was strangled by accident during an attempt to persuade him to come home — “the worst cover-up ever.” He had deemed it “credible” just a few days before.
In its first punitive response in the three weeks since the disappearance, the administration said it would revoke the visas of 21 Saudis suspected of kill-
ing Khashoggi, a Virginia resident and Washington Post columnist.
Erdogan, with his speech Tuesday, has now committed himself to exploiting the international uproar over the killing to inflict as much damage as possible on the public image of the crown prince, who had marketed himself to the West as a bold reformer and pivotal ally. At the same time, Erdogan continued to hold in reserve his biggest gun: the release of an audio recording and other evidence Turkish officials claim to have of the assassination.
With his own display of political muscle at the investor conference, Crown Prince Mohammed flaunted his refusal to pull back in the face of the scandal, demonstrating that the lure of kingdom’s vast oil deposits and sovereign wealth fund could still compel executives to pay tribute despite the backlash. It hardly seemed to matter that there were empty rows of gilded chairs at the afternoon sessions. The Saudi royal court said it would announce $50 billion worth of deals from the conference, with companies from Hyundai to Halliburton. And in a pointed message to Washington, the Saudi media lavished special attention on a Russian fund manager close to President Vladimir Putin.
“Saudi Arabia is a great partner for us,” the fund manager, Kirill Dmitriev, proclaimed.
It was a tacit reminder to the world that, at 33 years old, the crown prince could remain among the powerful figures in the Middle East for decades no matter what evidence Turkey produces.
As if to drive that home, he stopped in front of video cameras at a palace in Riyadh to express condolences over a carefully staged handshake with Khashoggi’s son, Salah.
Salah Khashoggi, who has been barred from leaving the kingdom, looked pained. His father was a well-known critic of the crown prince, and a growing number of current and former Western officials with experience in the kingdom have said that the crown prince almost certainly authorized the killing. His son appeared to have little choice about the handshake, which was broadcast over Saudi-owned media.
The crown prince “has definitely established a climate of fear inside the kingdom, and the Khashoggi killing has only reinforced that,” said Bruce Riedel, a former U.S. intelligence official.
The investor conference took place in the same hotel that the prince used last year as a prison to detain about 200 businessmen and royals while he squeezed them to turn over billions of dollars he claimed had been obtained through unspecified corruption.
But if the crown prince’s power appears unchallenged inside the kingdom, Erdogan also made clear Tuesday that he has no intention of backing off what appears to be an escalating campaign to discredit the crown prince in the eyes of much of the rest of the world.
In his first public statements detailing the accusations about Khashoggi’s killing, Erdogan on Tuesday charged that as soon as the diplomats in the consulate knew Khashoggi would be coming back for a document, one flew back to Riyadh, where “a road map started to be established.” Then a team of 15 Saudi agents flew to Istanbul on Oct. 2 for an ambush.
“It is clear that this savage murder did not happen instantly but was planned,” Erdogan said, directly challenging the Saudi account and demanding punishment “to the highest levels.”
Other Turkish officials have already let out more lurid details said to come from confidential intelligence: that within minutes of Khashoggi’s arrival in the consulate the team had killed and dismembered him. Reports that the team included a top Saudi doctor specializing in autopsies who brought a bone saw to the consulate have given the crown prince, often known as MBS, a new nickname — Mr. Bone Saw.
“The Saudis are under pressure that they can’t buy their way out of this time,” said Aaron David Miller, a former State Department official and scholar. “Neither their oil nor money are going to be able to erase the stain, or silence the glee of enemies, including Erdogan.”