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Erdogan promises Turkey will pursue Khashoggi killers

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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the order to murder Jamal Khashoggi came from “the highest levels of the Saudi government”, but he did “not believe for a second” that the order came from King Salman.

In his first direct accusation of Saudi authoritie­s over the journalist’s death, Mr Erdogan promised in an opinion article published on Friday in The

Washington Post – the paper to which Khashoggi was a contributo­r - that Turkey would continue to pursue the killers.

“I have no reason to believe that his murder reflected Saudi Arabia’s official policy,” Mr Erdogan wrote. “In this sense, it would be wrong to view the Khashoggi slaying as a ‘problem’ between two countries.

“Nonetheles­s, I must add that our friendship with Riyadh, which goes back a long time, doesn’t mean we will turn a blind eye to the premeditat­ed murder that unfolded in front of our very eyes.”

Khashoggi was a former insider in Saudi royal circles who went into self-imposed exile in the US last year.

He was last seen entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2 for paperwork to marry his Turkish fiancee. His body has yet to be recovered.

Saudi Arabia has dismissed six officials and arrested 18 people in connection with the killing, which it said was carried out without the knowledge of the kingdom’s leaders. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman denounced the murder as “repulsive”.

Saudi chief prosecutor Saud Al Mojeb travelled to Turkey in late October to discuss the investigat­ion, but Mr Erdogan said the Saudi authoritie­s had refused to answer questions such as who ordered the assassinat­ion and the whereabout­s of Khashoggi’s body.

Mr Erdogan called on a Turkish delegation to visit Saudi Arabia to present evidence to the authoritie­s in Riyadh about the killing.

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