Turkey pressures Saudi Arabia on Khashoggi’s body as prosecutor visits

ISTANBUL: Turkey cal­led on Saudi Arabia to reveal the “whole truth” about the murder of Jamal Kha­shoggi, as the whereabouts of the journalist’s body dominated a visit to the country by Riyadh’s top prosecutor.

Khashoggi’s death inside the kingdom’s Istanbul consulate has brought near unprecedented international scrutiny on Saudi Arabia, which is seeking to draw a line under the crisis as Western powers demand answers.

The head of the Saudi investigation, Attorney General Sheikh Saud al-Mojeb, who last week acknowledged that the killing was “premeditated” based on Turkish evidence, met with Istanbul chief prosecutor Irfan Fidan for around 75 minutes on Monday, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported.

Mojeb was then expected to inspect the Saudi consulate.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Monday said there was “an advantage in our prosecutors sharing information and working together”.

“The cooperation must continue, but it must not be drawn out or turned into a diversion. The investigation must be completed as soon as possible, so that the whole truth is revealed,” he told a press conference in Istanbul.

Asked about the whereabouts of Khashoggi’s body, which remain a mystery nearly a month after his death, Cavusoglu said that “as those who committed the murder are in Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabia has a very large responsibility”. According to Turkey broadca­s­ter TRT, Mojeb asked Turkish inve­st­i­gators to hand over the full findings of their own probe, but the request was rejected.

TRT said the Turkish prosecutor then demanded Mojeb give up any information of the whereabouts of Khashoggi’s body.

Saudi authorities have arrested 18 men over the murder, and Erdogan has requested the suspects be extradited for trial in Turkey. However Saudi For­eign Minister Adel al-Jubeir rejected the request.

Erdogan has also questio­ned why Saudi Arabia will not reveal the location of the body, as well as details of who carried out the hit.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Kashmir Monitor staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)