Turkey keeps pressure as Saudi prince addresses forum
RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA — Saudi Arabia’s powerful crown prince on Wednesday called the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi a “heinous crime that cannot be justified.”
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, addressing the Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh, said separately that the killing will not “drive a wedge” between the kingdom and Turkey.
This year’s summit has been overshadowed by the killing on Oct. 2. Turkish officials say a 15-man Saudi team killed the writer at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. A member of Prince Mohammed’s entourage was allegedly at the consulate at the time. International business leaders have pulled out from attending the summit over the killing.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reportedly spoke by phone with Prince Mohammed just before he arrived with other Arab leaders at the summit. The event, which debuted last year with global business titans in attendance, has been overshadowed by Khashoggi’s slaying and the international outrage over it.
Prince Mohammed immediately addressed the killing after taking the stage.
“The crime was really painful to all Saudis. I believe it is painful for every human in the world,” he said. “It is a heinous crime that cannot be justified.”
He also promised Saudi-Turkish relations would not be hurt.
“We know that many are trying to use this painful thing to create a kind of wedge between Saudi Arabia and Turkey,” he said. “I want to send them a message: They will not be able to do that as long as there is king called King Salman bin Abdul Aziz and a crown prince called Mohammed bin Salman in Saudi Arabia.”
Erdogan focused in again Wednesday on Khashoggi’s death.
“We are determined not to allow the murder to be covered up and for those responsible — from the person who gave the order to those who executed it — not to escape justice,” he said in the capital, Ankara.
The announcement of the call came just before Prince Mohammed, Bahrain’s crown prince and Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri walked into the Riyadh summit.
Erdogan has said that 15 Saudi officials arrived in Istanbul shortly before Khashoggi’s death and that a man, apparently dressed in the writer’s clothes, acted as a possible decoy by walking out of the consulate on the day of the disappearance.
Turkish officials say the 15 men comprised a Saudi hit squad that included a member of Prince Mohammed’s entourage on overseas trips. Saudi Arabia has suggested, without offering evidence, that the team went rogue.
With the crown prince’s standing marred, his ability to draw needed investment to the kingdom could be affected.
Economists say Saudi Arabia will need trillions of dollars in investments to create millions of jobs for young Saudis entering the workforce in coming years. The investment forum is aimed at attracting investors to help underwrite that effort.
The event’s first day saw several speakers acknowledge the killing of the Saudi writer whose columns criticized the crown prince’s crackdown on dissent. Dozens of Saudi activists, writers, clerics and even women who were behind calls for the right to drive have been detained.
At one summit session, Saudi Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih described Khashoggi’s slaying as “abhorrent.”
In the wake of Khashoggi’s killing, many international business leaders and Western officials pulled out of the forum, including the CEOs of JPMorgan Chase, Uber, Siemens and Blackrock. Western media outlets withdrew as partners for the event.