The only reason why Turkey wants America to get involved with investigating the assassination of Khashoggi is to avoid antagonizing its already fragile political and trade relations with Riyadh, where the Turkish embassy resides.

The Turks don’t care how the U.S. involvement would hurt our relations and trade. By the way, we do billions more trade with Saudi than with Turkey. Also, in 1975, the Turkish government announced that all U.S. military bases in Turkey would be closed and transferred to the Turkish Air Force. They took all of our equipment and never paid us. Currently, there are two military bases in Turkey operated by NATO and the U.S.

How soon we forgot how they put Andrew Brunson, a U.S. pastor, in prison and wrongly accused him of being involved of a military coup. He was in jail for two years until President Trump got him out.

Did you know Turkey sided with Germany in World War I? Great Britain and France also declared war against Turkey. Germany and Turkey signed a treaty of friendship in June 1941. Turkey remained neutral until the final stages of World War II and only joined the Allies three months before the end of the war with Germany on May 7, 1945.

Saudi Arabia sold oil to all the Allies for World War II, allowing Britain and the U.S. to expand the oil production capabilities at home during the war. Given what was at stake, London and Washington saw their engagement in Saudi Arabia as seminal, a genuine blueprint for how to forge a lasting “special relationship” throughout the Middle East.

Is it not more important for our county to keep a better relationship with Saudi Arabia than with Turkey? What has Turkey done for us? Shish kebab?