Hatice Cengiz is a Turkish researcher and the fiancée of Jamal Khashoggi, the journalist killed by the Saudi government.
Wiki/Biography
Hatice Cengiz was born on Sunday, July 18, 1982 (38 years old in 2020) in Bursa Province, Marmara Region, northwestern Turkey. Her zodiac sign is Cancer. She attended a religious seminary in Bursa. Later, she and her family moved to Istanbul. She studied in Egypt, Oman, Jordan, and the United Kingdom. She completed a graduate degree in anthropology in Oman. She studied Arabic for two years in Egypt. She received her doctorate from Istanbul University, researching Omani culture and customs, and wrote a thesis on the Islamic State (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria).
appearance
Height (approximate): 5′ 6″
Eye color: Black
Family and Race
Hetice Cengiz comes from a conservative, middle-class Islamic family in eastern Anatolia that supports Turkey’s ruling neo-Islamist party.
Parents and siblings
Her father was a kitchenware merchant. We know nothing about her mother. She has four siblings.
Husband and children
Hatice, who was previously married to a man (now divorced) with whom she has a son, met journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a member of the influential Khashoggi family who served in the Saudi Arabian royal family, at a conference in Istanbul in May 2018. In an interview, Hatice said of her first encounter with Jamal:
I was writing for a Turkish political magazine at the time, and during a coffee break I approached him and introduced myself, saying I wanted to interview him for a political website. During the second break, he came over and agreed to be interviewed. We talked for half an hour, and I recorded it. I still have the conversation on my phone. Later he told me that he liked my attitude and the fact that I could speak Arabic, not because of my looks.
They began communicating with each other via email, discussing their views, opinions and insights on current events, political issues and the Arab world. Soon, they started dating and decided to get married. At first, Hatice’s father did not approve of their relationship because of the large age gap between them, 22 years, but eventually agreed to their relationship. On Sunday, September 16, 2018, Hatice and Jamal got married according to Islamic traditions in the presence of Hatice’s family.
Hatice Cengiz and Jamal Khashoggi
On October 2, 2018, Jamal went to the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul to get a divorce certificate. The two decided to get married on a civil basis after Jamal obtained a divorce certificate from the consulate. However, Jamal was assassinated on October 2, 2018.
Profession
Hatice Cengiz is a Middle East Studies researcher. She is also a freelance writer and has written columns and other articles for international news outlets such as The Huffington Post. She has also written many books. One of her books on Oman is titled “Sultan Nabus of Uman: The Sacrifice of the Omani People”.
Sultan Nabus: His servant Al-Thani was killed
Favorite Things
Facts/Trivia
- Her Twitter account name is ‘Mercan Resifi.’ Her Facebook account name is ‘Khadijat Genkiz’ which was once very popular in the journalism world.
- When Jamal Khashoggi went to the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey to pick up documents proving his divorce from his wife, Hatice accompanied him to the consulate and waited outside when he entered. Hatice reportedly waited for him for several hours, and when he did not come out, she contacted the Turkish authorities and Jamal’s friend (an advisor to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan) and informed them that he was missing. On October 2, 2018, Jamal was assassinated by the Saudi government in the consulate.
Surveillance video shows Hatice Cengiz waiting for Jamal Khashoggi outside Saudi consulate
- From the day Jamal disappeared, to the announcement of his death, and throughout all judicial proceedings, Hatice has worked tirelessly to seek justice for her late fiancé, giving numerous interviews and writing several columns asking Turkish, American and British authorities, as well as other organizations such as the United Nations, to help punish Jamal’s killers.
- In her quest for justice for Jamal, she reached out to many people and pleaded with the U.S. government to help her find her fiancé. In an op-ed for The Washington Post, Cengiz wrote:
At this time, I implore President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump to help uncover the truth about Jamal’s disappearance. I also urge Saudi Arabia, specifically King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, to show the same sensitivity and release the consulate’s CCTV footage.”
- In 2019, she wrote a book based on Jamal Khashoggi titled Jamal Khashoggi: His Life, Struggles and Secrets. The book was inspired by a personal diary in which she documented her first meeting with Jamal, as well as his personality and relationships with friends and family.
Jamal Khashoggi: His Life, Struggles and Secrets (2019)
- On March 2, 2021, U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar introduced a bill to impose sanctions on Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) for his involvement in the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi. He quoted Hatice when submitting the bill and said:
If the crown prince is not punished, it will always mean the main perpetrators will go unpunished.”
- According to Hatice, she and Jamal share many common views.
We support democracy, human rights, freedom of expression and a free press. We also agree that political Islam is compatible with democratic principles.”
- In 2020, she starred in the American documentary The Dissident, directed and produced by Oscar-winning filmmaker Bryan Fogel. The documentary was based on the assassination of Jamal and Mohammed bin Salman’s role in it.
Categories: Biography
Source: HIS Education