London: Short of declaring all-out war on the House of Saud, it is hard to imagine a more effective way for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to inflict so much damage on the global standing of his Saudi rivals than his adroit handling of the Jamal Khashoggi affair.

From the moment the journalist disappeared after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul earlier this month, Erdogan has proved himself to be a master manipulator in terms of handling the global media coverage. The steady drip-feed of revelations about the grisly fate Khashoggi is believed to have suffered has been skilfully designed to cause the Saudis maximum discomfiture.

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Credit:AP

It goes without saying, given the blatant lies and misinformation emanating from Riyadh, that the Saudis have hardly covered themselves in glory. Having initially insisted that Khashoggi left the consulate of his own volition, the Saudi version of events has enjoyed a number of deeply unconvincing manifestations, from the suggestion that the portly and out-of-condition Khashoggi was killed in a fist fight with Saudi officials, to the latest proposition, that he was the victim of a "rogue" intelligence operation.

From the outset, the Saudis' primary objective has been to protect their all-powerful Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, the 33-year-old dynamo who is in the process of overseeing the most ambitious reform programme undertaken in the country's history.