Turkey: Saudis must ID killers
ISTANBUL — Saudi Arabia must identify those who ordered the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and turn over the suspects for trial, the Turkish president said Tuesday in remarks that carefully ratcheted up pressure on a country that is a source of investment for Turkey, but also a rival for influence in the Middle East.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan delivered a sharp rebuttal of Saudi Arabia’s widely criticized account that the writer for The Washington Post died accidentally in a brawl, saying Saudi officials had planned the killing for days.
Some analysts believe Turkey is also calculating whether it can capitalize on outrage over the killing to extract political capital from the world’s largest oil exporter without alienating it altogether.
Addressing ruling party lawmakers in parliament, Erdogan used the word “murder” 15 times to describe Khashoggi’s death after the writer entered the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2 for paperwork related to his marriage plans.
Erdogan also cast Turkey in the role of global statesman, echoing calls for full Saudi accountability from Western allies whose relationships with the Turkish government have often been edgy in the past.
U.N. Secretary-general Antonio Guterres stood by his earlier call for an independent and transparent investigation, said Farhan Haq, a deputy spokesman for the world body. “Turkey is playing the long game. And today’s speech is part of a very careful — in my opinion — escalation strategy,” said Ahmet Kasim Han, an international relations analyst at Altinbas University in Istanbul.
In Riyadh on Tuesday, King Salman and Prince Mohammed received Khashoggi’s son, Salah, and his brother, Sahel, at the Yamama Palace, where the royals expressed their condolences. A friend of the Khashoggi family told The Associated Press that Salah has been under a travel ban since last year. The individual spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing reprisal.
Also Tuesday, the crown prince attended an investment forum alongside King Abdullah II of Jordan. Prince Mohammed sat in on an afternoon session and looked at some promotional booths outside themainhallasanexcitedcrowdof mostly young Saudi men recorded the encounter on their phones.
Many Western executives and officials skipped the conference because of the killing.