Халид ибн Абдулазиз: Сауд Арабиясының патшасы (1975-1982)

King of Saudi Arabia from 1975 to 1982

Khalid bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (خالد بن عبد العزيز آل سعود; 13 February 1913 13 June 1982) was King and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia from 25 March 1975 to his death in 1982. Prior to his ascension, he was Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia from 29 March 1965 to 25 March 1975. He was the fifth son of King Abdulaziz, the founder of modern Saudi Arabia. Khalid was the son of King Abdulaziz and Al Jawhara bint Musaed Al Saud. He assisted his half brother Prince Faisal in his duties as foreign minister of Saudi Arabia. Khalid served as viceroy of the Hejaz region for a brief time in the 1930s. He visited the United States in 1943 together with Faisal, establishing relations between the two countries. He was appointed as the deputy prime minister of Saudi Arabia in 1962. After Khalid's full brother Prince Muhammad stepped aside from the royal succession, King Faisal named Khalid as crown prince in 1965. Following the assassination of King Faisal in 1975, Khalid ascended to the throne. His reign saw both huge developments in the country due to increase in oil revenues and significant events in the Middle East. In 1979, a group of civilians seized the Grand Mosque of Mecca and sought but failed to kidnap Khalid. Saudi forces regained control over the mosque, but the seizure resulted in the introduction of stricter religious policies in Saudi Arabia. Khalid died in 1982 and was succeeded by his half brother Fahd.

Khalid succeeded to the throne on 25 March 1975 when King Faisal was assassinated. He was proclaimed king after a meeting of senior members of Al Saud: his uncle Abdullah bin Abdul Rahman and his brothers Muhammad, Nasser, Saad, Fahd, and Abdullah. Although there are various reports stating that King Khalid was only a figurehead during his reign, he was in fact not a figurehead, but the final decision maker on all major policy issues during his reign. King Faisal established a system in which the king was the final mediator in family problems. Following the unsuccessful attempt of the Sudairi Seven to overthrow King Khalid and to install one of their own, Prince Sultan, as deputy crown prince instead of Prince Abdullah, the King asked Crown Prince Fahd and Prince Abdullah to fully obey the existing succession plan without any change. King Khalid also closely checked the activities of Crown Prince Fahd due to the latter's clear support for the pro Western policies and hostile tendency against Iran and Shia population of Saudi Arabia. In addition, King Khalid was not an ineffective leader. Although he seemed to be reluctant to rule the country initially, he later warmed to the throne and displayed an apparent interest in improving the education, health care and infrastructure of the country during his seven year reign. During the first two years of his reign he was not active in politics due to his poor health condition, but later he became much more active as a result of his much better health. King Khalid is also considered to have been a genial caretaker during his reign. However, he failed to monopolize power during his reign, leading to the empowerment of the princes who had been in powerful posts in late King Faisal's reign. He had some personal characteristics that made him a respected king. He was admired as an honest man who managed to have good relations with the traditional establishment of Saudi Arabia.

King Khalid's reign was of massive development in Saudi Arabia and therefore, the country became one of the richest countries in that the oil revenues became $40 billion in 1977 and $90 billion in 1980. In 1975 the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu was founded to run the cities, and its first secretary general was Abdullah bin Faisal bin Turki. Jeddah Port Authority was established in September 1976 to expand the capacity of the existing port. The other significant development in the field of education during his reign was the establishment of King Faisal University. Most of them were arrested during the reign of King Faisal. In terms of administrative functions King Khalid followed the structure established by King Faisal in which both royals and non royals occupied significant positions. The political power consolidation of the ruling family was intensified during his reign. However, King Khalid expanded the role of nonroyals in bureaucracy without diminishing the roles of royal family members. The strict financial policies of King Faisal, coupled with the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis, created a financial windfall that fueled development and led to a commercial and economic boom in the country. Notable achievements in his reign included the institution of the second Five Year Plan in 1975, which aimed to build up Saudi infrastructure and health care. Although not all goals were achieved, the second development plan was much more successful than the first one. Appointment of Prince Fahd as both crown prince and first deputy prime minister made him much powerful figure in contrast to the status of King Khaled when he was crown prince under King Faisal reign. Prince Nayef was named minister of interior succeeding Prince Fahd on 30 March 1975. King Khalid also appointed Prince Saud as the foreign affairs minister in March 1975. In addition to the existing ministerial bodies six new ones were established by King Khalid in October 1975. One of them was the ministry of municipal and rural affairs established, and Prince Majid was appointed minister. Additionally, Prince Mutaib was appointed minister of public works and housing that was also established by King Khalid in October 1975. The number of non royal members of the cabinet was decreased, and only eight royal family members were given ministerial posts in this reshuffle. King Khalid also expanded the internal structure of some ministries. For instance, the Public Security Administration was created in 1976 to preserve the public order and tranquility, to promote of the public health, safety, and morals, and to detect and punish the crimes, and attached it to the ministry of interior. The members of the inner family council headed by King Khalid included his brothers, namely Prince Mohammad, Crown Prince Fahd, Prince Abdullah, Prince Sultan, and Prince Abdul Muhsin and two of his uncles, Prince Ahmed and Prince Musaid. Prince Mohammad was one of King Khalid's key advisors. Kamal Adham served as the president of Al Mukhabarat Al A'amah or the general intelligence directorate until 19 January 1979 which he had held since 1965. Adham's successor in the post was Turki bin Faisal. Saudi Arabia acquired full control of Aramco in 1980 during his reign and the company was renamed as Saudi Aramco. In March 1980 King Khalid established a constitutional committee with eight members under the presidency of Prince Nayef. However, the committee could not manage to produce the basic law that had been promised. King Khalid implemented a significant policy towards bedouins through a decree dated 15 March 1981 which required them to settle in a fixed place. In November 1979, Khalid's reign saw two major local incidents which have had significant effects on the politics of Saudi Arabia: the Grand Mosque seizure and the Qatif Uprising.

Some foreign observers thought traditionalism was no longer a strong force in Saudi Arabia. This idea was disproved when at least 500 dissidents invaded and seized the Grand Mosque in Mecca on 20 November 1979. The dissidents in Medina were immediately defeated by the Saudi troops. At the time of the event, Crown Prince Fahd was in Tunisia for a meeting of the Arab Summit and the commander of the National Guard Prince Abdullah was in Morocco for an official visit. The Grand Mosque was regained by Saudi forces on 4 December 1979 and 63 rebels were executed on 9 January 1980 in eight different cities. The executions were decreed by King Khalid after the edict issued by ulemas. And ulema successfully pressed King Khalid to realize their intentions.

In November 1979, Shiites in the Eastern Province, particularly in Qatif and in nearby villages, organized protests. Several demonstrators were arrested. However, the budget did not make any significant contribution to the services. Due to King Khalid's policy change towards the Shiite population in the region, they positively modified their approach towards the Saudi government and abandoned their oppositional ideas and actions. his reign witnessed many important international events, including the Iranian Revolution, the assassination of Anwar Sadat and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, all of which had significant effects for Saudi Arabia. In addition, the Saudi government led by King Khalid was much more active in improving the relations of Saudi Arabia with neighbouring states in contrast to the reign of Faisal. His government was also much more moderate and less conservative in regard to the Arab–Israeli conflict than that of King Faisal. Kamal Adham was King Khalid's key counsellor on foreign policy during his reign from 1975 to 1982. King Khalid initiated a move to bring in foreign labor to help with the country's development. Another significant event was the visit of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi of Iran to Riyadh on 28 April 1975. In June 1975, Saudi Arabia appointed an ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, which also assigned an ambassador to Saudi Arabia the same date. The visit was an indication of Saudi Arabia's support of the initiatives of Anwar Sadat concerning peace settlement between the Arabs and Israel. Diplomatic relations with the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen were reestablished in March 1976. He also called numerous summits and inaugurated the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in 1981 that is seen an outcome of his early visits. It was a secret organization with the participation of Egypt, France, Iran, Morocco and Saudi Arabia to eliminate the potential influence of communism in the region. On 19 May 1977, King Khalid met Hafez Assad and Anwar Sadat in Riyadh to initiate a coordinated policy on the Arab–Israeli conflict. He also met Prime Minister of Pakistan Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in Riyadh on 18 June 1977. In early January 1978 the US President Jimmy Carter paid an official visit to Riyadh and met King Khalid to discuss the Middle East peace efforts. Immediately after this meeting Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi visited King Khalid on 11 January 1978 to discuss some topics related to the security of the region. The Camp David accord which was signed by Egypt and Israel in September 1978 severely affected the Saudi–Egyptian alliance, and Saudi Arabia's diplomatic relations with Egypt were terminated following the Baghdad Conference in November 1978. He also argued that with the foundation of the Islamic Republic in Iran there were no obstacles that inhibited the cooperation between two countries. In addition, King Khalid requested the secretary general of the Organization of the Islamic Conference to congratulate the new Iranian government. However, his initiatives were unsuccessful in that Saudi Arabia unofficially supported Iraq against Iran in the Iran–Iraq War in 1980.

In April 1980 King Khalid cancelled the state visit to Britain as a protest over the broadcasting of Death of a Princess on 9 April 1980 in the United Kingdom that narrated the execution of Misha'al bin Fahd, the granddaughter of Prince Mohammad bin Abdulaziz. King Khalid had been invited by Queen Elizabeth II in June 1979, In addition, the British ambassador was expelled from Saudi Arabia for five months due to the broadcasting of the documentary on ITV. Egyptian actress Suzan Abu Talib or Sawsan Badr and other actors who had roles in the documentary were banned from entering Saudi Arabia. King Khalid is reputed to have said he would be happy to discuss falcons with her, but for all matters of administration she should talk to Crown Prince Fahd. Next he visited Spain on 15 June 1981. King Khalid asked the US President Jimmy Carter to sell advanced fighter planes to Saudi Arabia to assist in countering communist aggression in the area. Jimmy Carter in his memoirs stated that both King Khalid and then Crown Prince Fahd assured him of "their unequivocal support for Sadat", but they would realize no concrete move in this direction, at least not publicly. Just one week before his death King Khalid sent messages to the US President Ronald Reagan and other world leaders on 6 June 1982 stating that a quick intervention was needed to stop the Israeli massacre in Lebanon referring to the Israeli attacks against Palestinians in the country.

In June 1974 when he was Crown Prince Khalid argued that France taught the Syrians to be stubborn, and the British instilled the idea for the Arabs to differ with each other. and "We are against communism and we will protect ourselves against it by all means. If the United States pressed Israel into making a just peace settlement, Russia would not acquire a single foothold in the Middle East." In an interview on BBC Summary of World Broadcasts he expressed the following views on Zionism, Communism and colonialism on 3 July 1979: "We regard Zionism, communism and colonialism as a trinity allied against Arab and Islamic rights and aspirations. Our policy is based on that understanding, and it is natural for us to be always subjected to biased and poisonous campaigns at the hand of that very trinity." Following the defeat of invaders of Grand Mosque King Khalid expressed the following: "if [Juhayman] al Otaibi and his cohorts had targeted palaces rather than the Grand Mosque [in their 1979 uprising] the results of the uprising might have been very different." At the third summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Taif in January 1981 he declared non alignment of Saudi Arabia concerning the tensions between the USA and Soviet Union: "Our loyalty must be neither to an eastern bloc nor to a western bloc. The security of the Islamic nation will not be assured by joining a military alliance, nor by taking refuge under the umbrella of a superpower."

Khalid was described as warm, cheerful, attentive and devout and was adored by his sisters and brothers. It was the reason for sending him to Yemen in 1935 to handle the problems with local people. He was described as a man of the desert. In the late 1970s King Khalid was given a rare Alberta trained gyrfalcon by the Canadian government as a gift. Hunting was also one of his favorites, and he went to African countries to participate in hunting safaris when he was young. In December 1975 he bought the then longest Cadillac at 25 feet and 2 inches long again for falconry, and Time magazine called it "Khalidillac". In June 1974 while he was Crown Prince in a meeting with US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger Khalid stated that he had been interested in hunting with hawks for forty years. In response he stated that he lived in Riyadh, but in the summer he stayed in Taif. to use following two operations on his hip in the Wellington Hospital in London.

When Khalid bin Abdulaziz was crown prince, he had a massive heart attack in 1970 and had a heart surgery in 1972 at the Cleveland Clinic in the United States. He also had a hip operation at Wellington Hospital in London in 1976. In February 1980, King Khalid had a minor heart attack. in his summer palace in Taif. On the same day his body was brought from Taif to Mecca. After funeral prayers at the Grand Mosque in Mecca, King Khalid was buried in Al Oud cemetery in Riyadh. Leaders of Qatar, Kuwait, Djibouti, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain,

King Khalid International Airport, King Khalid University, King Khalid Eye Specialist Hospital in Riyadh, King Khalid Military City and King Khalid Medical City in the Eastern province were all named after him. In Riyadh there is also a mosque named after him, King Khalid Grand Mosque, serving the Muslims since 1988. In Jeddah a bridge is named after King Khalid. There is a research center on wildlife in Saudi Arabia named after him, Khalid Wildlife Research Centre. In addition, his family established King Khalid Foundation, which is being headed by his son, Abdullah bin Khalid. The foundation awards individuals who have achievements in the fields of corporate social responsibility, nonprofit management and social innovation.

In January 1981 King Khalid was awarded by the United Nations (UN) a gold medal which is the UN's highest decoration for the statesmen who significantly contributed to peace and cooperation worldwide. King Khalid also received the King Faisal International Prize for Service to Islam due to his efforts in support of Islamic solidarity in 1981.