Turkish President Erdoğan urges Saudi prosecutor to probe who ordered Khashoggi hit

ISTANBUL

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Oct. 30 called for Saudi Arabia’s chief prosecutor, who was visiting the consulate in Istanbul where journalist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered, to investigate who ordered the hit on the journalist.  

The Turkish president says a 15-person team travelled from Riyadh to kill Khashoggi, who had criticized Saudi Arabia’s powerful Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, after he entered the Saudi consulate on Oct. 2.

“Who sent these 15 people? As Saudi public prosecutor, you have to ask that question, so you can reveal it,” Erdoğan told reporters in Ankara, shortly after the head of the Saudi investigation, Attorney General Sheikh Saud al-Mojeb, entered the diplomatic compound.

“Now we have to solve this case. No need to prevaricate, it makes no sense to try to save certain people,” Erdoğan said.

Saudi Arabia is seeking to draw a line under the crisis after offering a series of differing narratives following the disappearance of the journalist, who was an insider in Saudi royal circles before going into self-imposed exile in the United States last year.

“There is no sense to try to protect the culprits,” said Erdoğan.

“Either the Saudi foreign minister or the 18 suspects must explain who the local co-conspirators are,” Erdoğan said. 

“Let’s know who this co-conspirator is, we can shed further light.”    

Erdoğan added that they would not turn a blind eye to the Khashoggi case.

“If we turn a blind eye to the issue, we will have a joint debt against humanity, we have a conscientious debt,” he said.

Saudi prosecutor holds talks

Saudi Arabia’s top prosecutor, al-Mojeb, on Oct. 30 visited a courthouse in Istanbul for the second time over the killing of Khashoggi, state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

The attorney general had also visited the Istanbul Cağlayan Courthouse on Oct. 29 to meet İrfan Fidan, Istanbul’s chief public prosecutor.

After the second meeting, which lasted around an hour, al-Mojeb and his delegation proceeded to the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, where Khashoggi was killed on Oct. 2.

They left the consulate after spending one-and-a-half hours inside. No official statement was made about either visit.

Al-Mojeb and the delegation accompanying him had arrived in Istanbul early on Oct. 29.

Al-Mojeb asked to be given the full findings of the Turkish investigation, including all images and audio recordings, Turkish broadcaster TRT reported.

The Turkish investigators rejected the request, TRT said, instead calling on the Saudi prosecutor to reveal information about the location of Khashoggi’s body.    

They also repeated Erdoğan’s call for the 18 suspects detained by Saudi Arabia over the murder be sent to Turkey for trial, according to TRT. Riyadh has refused the request.