Saudi Consulate in Istanbul
 

Scarey to think that is where I used to get my entry visas processed !

Re: Saudi Consulate in Istanbul
 

Good job you didn't have an argument with the staff.

Re: Saudi Consulate in Istanbul
 

Lucky you didn't fancy a scrap then!

Absolutely astonishing what's happening and slowly being revealed. Spy novel stuff.

Re: Saudi Consulate in Istanbul
 

I always found staff in the consulate there and in the Embassy in London polite and helpful but then I am not a dissident writing articles exposing the doings of the Saudi Royals.

Re: Saudi Consulate in Istanbul
 

he's certainly achieving that objective...

Re: Saudi Consulate in Istanbul
 

It's almost like he put his head in the open jar of a crocodile he'd spent the last few hours poking with a stick.

Re: Saudi Consulate in Istanbul
 

The way he apparently was killed is genuinely horrendous and should make you take a long and hard look about the realities of the Gulf.....

But I don't like how the western presses are turning him into a symbol of free journalism or whatever the bullshit is. The man knew what he was doing. He was no saint, he'd defended and apologised the regime before, including a lot of their brutal activities. He was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood and apparently condoned a lot of their more extreme actions. He knew what the price was for criticising Saudi. It's one thing to be a western liberal journalist but it's something else entirely if you're a Saudi and especially someone who'd built a career out of kissing the arses of the House of Saud. To make it worse it sort of looks like he was becoming an informer for the US which is why he got the green card so quickly and easily, and no country likes anyone becoming an informer.

He was playing with fire....with people whose mindsets are still stuck in 1450.

Re: Saudi Consulate in Istanbul
 

First rule of Saudi fight club ;-)

Re: Saudi Consulate in Istanbul
 

The dynasty goes back to the person physician to King Abdulaziz ibn Saud

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Khashoggi


And no, he was not a liberal. Hard to find in the Middle East. I am reminded of how the Ottomans used to treat the prisoners they took from the Wahabi tribes in the Nejd and the Hejaz. Knowing how the Wahabis abhor music in any form, they took delight in having loud music played by the Bustanci while the Saudi prisoners were being tortured and executed. Such was the fate of this Saudi ruler - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdullah_bin_Saud

Re: Saudi Consulate in Istanbul
 

Definitely been a topic to avoid in the office. I've been on holiday, but on the first day at work after the Saudis admitted killing him after all....Not one person brought it up.

Re: Saudi Consulate in Istanbul
 

Not just the gulf, the entire world.

Re: Saudi Consulate in Istanbul
 

I discussed it discreetly with one Saudi colleague. She said no one is talking about it, social media or otherwise. Just goes to show...

Re: Saudi Consulate in Istanbul
 

talked about it today with a Saudi colleague as it goes, also discreetly.
I work for the Saudi military so have to be very careful generally when speaking about some things.

what was interesting was that he was prepared to accept that it was all true, however horrible that truth may be.

I often find with Saudis that what they tell you in private when they know no other Saudis can hear them can be quite enlightening.

Re: Saudi Consulate in Istanbul
 

exactly... if the whole idea of their de facto leader ordering this was laughably implausible, they'd be vocal about denouncing it. But they're not so...

Re: Saudi Consulate in Istanbul
 

Apparently the Turkish government are going to lay the smackdown today.