Where is Jamal Khashoggi?

What has happened to Cemal Khashoggi, a true intellectual in his depth of thought, his political stance, and his concerned, steadfast and far-sighted approach to issues, while he was in Turkey, let us say without any equivocation, is an operation not only against him but against Turkey. It is a necessity that Turkey too sees the event this way, and at present it is acting in accordance with this necessity.

For the Turkish authorities, how much or how little Khashoggi was personally known is not important at all. Although Khashoggi, who had lately been living in the US, was a great intellectual famous worldwide, he used to come to and go from Turkey quietly. Sometimes he appeared in Turkey when he came for a conference or a meeting, but his residence was in the US. It has now been understood, from what has befallen him, that he had also become engaged to a Turkish citizen woman from Turkey, and that the frequency of his recent visits was partly due to this.

So why am I saying this? For this reason: Khashoggi was not a criminal requested from Turkey by the Saudi authorities. Yes, it was no secret that he was a dissident, but his opposition was not of the kind that made him a criminal against his country, and there was no case opened against him and notified to Turkey. In fact, until recently, even in the era of Salman bin Abdulaziz, he was introduced on the television channels he appeared on as a "journalist-writer close to the government."

Because in that period he openly supported the "Vision 2030 for Saudi Arabia," the Operation Decisive Storm in Yemen and many other foreign policies. In fact the Saudi administration's parting of ways with Khashoggi came about in the first place not because he criticized the administration but because he criticized Trump. The moment the Salman administration announced that Khashoggi, who had criticized the US's Trump administration, did not represent the Saudi administration, his name began to be mentioned as a dissident. Even so, there was no wanted record notified to Interpol about Khashoggi.

Therefore, there is no situation of someone who was not officially requested from Turkey and has no Interpol record being harbored by Turkey in order to support activities against Saudi Arabia. Khashoggi's presence in Turkey was not like the presence of FETÖ's would-be writers in the US or in Germany. Let us immediately close off this path to those who make this comparison, so that there is no infiltration in between. There is no wrong on Turkey's part against Saudi Arabia of the kind that Germany or the US commit against Turkey.

Even if Khashoggi criticizes those who rule his country at present, he has no sense of guilt toward his country. He loves his country, he makes his criticisms for his country's good, and despite everything he was extremely measured in his criticisms of the rulers. That is why, in the final analysis, he saw no harm in going of his own accord to his country's consulate in Istanbul. He knows that the measure has been thoroughly overstepped in the extremely arbitrary arrests in his country recently and expects that it could somehow affect him too, but even so he did not expect that they could do this in Istanbul.

The reason for going to the consulate, however, was a perfectly humane and civil procedure. Although he found Turkey sufficiently safe for himself, he apparently did not feel that trust in a few acres of land belonging to his own country inside Turkey, so before going in he instructed his fiancée emphatically. "If something happens to me," he even made the necessary testamentary arrangements.

You can guess what a heavy responsibility my share of this testament is. Let me say that from the first moment I heard these words from his fiancée, who called me, I have been filled with a steadily growing sense of embarrassment. You understand the reason...

The trust that a very valuable guest of ours, who felt unease and insecurity in my country, placed upon me regarding something he feared might happen to him, God forbid, though still, frankly, when I heard it, besides mixed feelings, threw me into great agitation. Something must have happened to Cemal Khashoggi, and the moment I learned it I needed to do something urgently.

Of course first I needed to understand what had happened. In that agitation, for a few minutes my trembling fingers searched the phone for the appropriate names. Some of those I called I could not reach on the first attempt. Anyway, within a short time everyone who needed to know knew, and word even came that all the measures that must be taken in case of abduction had been taken at the highest level as of that hour.

Although it is established, both by the statement of his fiancée Ms. Hatice and by camera footage, that he entered the consulate at around 13:00, there is no footage of Khashoggi leaving the consulate by normal means.

An abnormal route could be that he was taken out in cars whose interiors cannot be seen, which is a situation that is definitely the responsibility of the consulate and of course needs to be explained.

Or the only possibility left to us is that Khashoggi is still being held in the consulate.

The Saudi authorities, on the other hand, say the exact opposite but cannot explain the situation. Moreover, the fact that in the first two days of Khashoggi's disappearance all officials vanished and were unreachable has also become another matter hard to explain in connection with the same event. Let us see how this spear will be fitted into this sack.

However it is fitted, an intellectual-scholar of such stature must first of all be ensured to return safe and sound to his home and to those who love him.