Evidence points to premeditation
Erdogan says Khashoggi ‘ferociously murdered’
ISTANBUL: Saudi Arabia started planning journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s murder days before he vanished inside its consulate in Istanbul, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, as he revealed details about the investigation into Khashoggi’s killing.
Erdogan said Turkey had amassed evidence that clearly showed that the Washington Post columnist was killed in a premeditated and ‘‘savage’’ murder that involved at least three separate teams of Saudi intelligence agents, including a military general.
Erdogan was speaking to parliament as part of his pledge to unveil the ‘‘naked truth’’ about a case that has shocked the world and raised suspicions that a Saudi hit squad planned Khashoggi’s killing after he walked into the consulate on October 2, and then attempted to cover it up. Erdogan said Khashoggi was ‘‘ferociously murdered’’.
Reports in British, Chinese and Russian media , all citing anonymous sources, said parts of Khashoggi’s body had been located at the Saudi consulate.
Erdogan said Saudi operatives first activated a plan to capture and kill Khashoggi after the journalist initially visited the consulate in Istanbul on September 28. Ergodan called on 18 suspects — Saudi nationals all — detained in Saudi Arabia to be extradited to Turkey for trial and demanded that Saudi authorities in Riyadh provide information about who ordered the operation and the whereabouts of Khashoggi’s stillmissing body.
However, Ergodan made no reference to audio recordings leaked to Turkish media over the past three weeks that purport to show how Khashoggi was killed.
He said the three teams of Saudi agents arrived in Istanbul on different days and flights and some members of one of the teams went on a reconnaissance mission to a forest outside Istanbul where investigators have been searching for Khashoggi’s remains. Most of the security cameras outside the consulate were removed, he said.
After initially denying any knowledge of Khashoggi’s fate, Saudi Arabia claimed the US resident died in a fistfight. Erdogan’s address comes as skepticism intensified about the Saudi account, which critics allege is designed to absolve Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom’s heirapparent, of any responsibility. — USA Today/TCA