Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Monday that he would use a speech to his country’s parliament on Tuesday to reveal all the “details” in the killing of the Saudi Arabian journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
Saudi Arabia has admitted that Khashoggi was murdered at its diplomatic compound in the Turkish city earlier this month, but it has blamed a “rogue operation” and denied that its powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered his death.
“There obviously was a tremendous mistake made and what compounded the mistake was the attempt to try to cover up. That is unacceptable in any government,” Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said in a Fox News interview Sunday night.
“We are determined to punish those who are responsible for this murder,” he said. “The individuals who did this did this outside the scope of their authority.
Still, Saudi Arabia’s explanation for how Khashoggi was killed has been met with widespread international skepticism and allegations of a cover-up, including from U.S. lawmakers, designed to absolve the crown prince of direct responsibility. The oil-rich kingdom’s de facto ruler enjoys good relations with President Donald Trump.
Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Saturday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that he believed the crown prince was behind the killing.
He “crossed a line and there has to be a punishment and a price paid for that,” Corker said. He also urged Turkey to turn over evidence it says it has of Khashoggi’s killing.
It also comes amid Turkish media reports, citing officials, that claim audio and video recordings exist that show a 15-member Saudi team flew to Istanbul, laid in wait for Khashoggi at the consulate and then cut off his fingers, killed and dismembered the 59-year-old. Turkish officials have yet to formally confirm they have the recordings.
And in a bizarre new twist, surveillance images published Monday by CNN appear to show that one member of the 15-man team suspected in Khashoggi’s death dressed up in his clothes on the day the journalist was killed in what may have been an attempt to use a decoy. The official named in the image apparently wearing Khashoggi’s clothes is Mustafa al-Madani, 57, a Saudi operative who is about the same age and height as the journalist. But no one appears to have noticed him on the day and the surveillance images show that Al-Madani wore different shoes to Khashoggi’s.
The Saudis have offered few and conflicting accounts of his death.
For more than two weeks after Khashoggi disappeared after entering the consulate on Oct. 2., Saudi Arabia insisted he left the building. It also said allegations he was killed inside the consulate were “baseless.” On Saturday, Saudi Arabia’s public prosecutor claimed Khashoggi died as a result of a fight and that 18 Saudi nationals had been arrested in connection with the case. Al-Jubeir’s interview on Sunday was the first time Saudi authorities used the word “murder” to describe Khashoggi’s killing.
In an interview with The Washington Post, Trump acknowledged “there’s been deception and there’s been lies. Their stories are all over the place.” But he also praised the Saudi crown prince as a “strong person” who was able to control his nation’s disparate factions and who was key to successful U.S.-Saudi economic tie
“Nobody has told me he’s responsible. Nobody has told me he’s not responsible. We haven’t reached that point. I haven’t heard either way,” Trump said.
Britain, Germany and France issued a joint statement condemning Khashoggi’s killing, saying there is an “urgent need for clarification of exactly what happened.”
Germany also became the first country to halt arms exports to the kingdom in the wake of the scandal, with Chancellor Angela Merkel saying Sunday night that such sales could not take place in “current circumstances.” Germany represents a relatively small share of Saudi’s weapons imports. The U.S. is its largest source of arms imports.
Previewing his Tuesday address, Erdogan said: “Why did these 15 people come here? Why were 18 people arrested? All of this needs to be explained in all its details.” The Turkish leader did not say whether the audio evidence documenting Khashoggi’s murder inside the consulate would be shared with Saudi Arabia, the U.S. and its allies.
Saudi King Salman and the crown prince both called Khashoggi’s son separately on Sunday to express their condolences, the state-run Saudi Press Agency reported.
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