Turkey awaits MBS stand on Jamal hit

Ankara, Nov. 13: Turkey is waiting for Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to shed light on the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul last month, the country’s president was quoted as saying on Tuesday.

Speaking to journalists on board his plane while returning from World War I commemorations in Paris, Recep Tayyip Erdogan also reportedly said audio recordings of the killing that Turkey shared with officials from Saudi Arabia and other nations were so “atrocious” that a Saudi intelligence official speculated that the killer may have been on heroin.

“The recording is truly atrocious. In fact, when the Saudi intelligence officer listened to the recording he was so shocked that he said ‘this one probably took heroin. Only someone who took heroin would do it,’” Erdogan was reported as saying in comments published in pro-government Yeni Safak.

THE SAUDI crown prince has come under scrutiny for having knowledge of the killing, which involved some members of his security entourage

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Turkey says The Washington Post columnist, who had criticised the crown prince, was killed by a 15-member assassination squad sent from Riyadh. Ankara insists the orders for the killing came from the highest levels of the Saudi government, but not King Salman.

The crown prince has come under scrutiny for having knowledge of the killing, which involved some members of his security entourage. —AP