Jamal Khashoggi

Jamal Khashoggi was a Saudi Arabian expat journalist who was brutally murdered at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018. At the time, Turkish leader Erdoğan spoke out angrily against the killing, and the Turkish authorities released recordings that proved the Saudis’ wrongdoing. By 2022, however, Erdoğan had forgiven anything. It was announced that the trial of Khashoggi’s killers would be completed in Saudi Arabia – virtually guaranteeing his killers’ acquittal – and an April meeting between Turkish and Saudi leaders, in which they mutually agreed to increase trade and diplomatic cooperation, did not mention Khashoggi at all.

Khashoggi was also a permanent resident of the US, and for a short period American leaders paid lip service to the idea of seeking justice for him, too. By 2022 this had receded into the rear-view mirror, as the US came to feel restrengthening its alliance with Saudi Arabia was a more important foreign policy objective.