Turkey slams defense of Saudi, says Trump turned ‘blind eye’

AMMAN, Jordan — For months, Turkish officials have been leaking gruesome details surrounding Jamal Khashoggi’s death as a counter to President Donald Trump’s moves to absolve Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the Trump ally thought to be behind the Saudi journalist’s slaying.

But Ankara took a more direct approach on Friday, with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu slamming Trump for “turning a blind eye” in Khashoggi’s death, and accusing him of putting money above human values.

Trump’s statements in support of the prince mean that the president is saying, in essence, “‘Whatever happens, I will turn a blind eye,’” Cavusoglu said in an interview Friday with CNN’s Turkish affiliate, CNN Turk. “This is not the right approach. Money is not everything. … We shouldn’t abandon our humanitarian values.”

“Maybe he did, maybe he didn’t,” Trump wrote of Mohammed Tuesday in a 633-word message, later adding, “In any case, our relationship is with Saudi Arabia.”

Khashoggi, a onetime Saudi government insider who left the kingdom last year and became a U.S. resident and Washington Post columnist, disappeared after entering the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, on Oct. 2.

It soon emerged that the journalist had been ambushed by a 15-man hit team dispatched from Riyadh, who killed and then dismembered Khashoggi before covering up his death.

Cavusoglu’s comments come a day after Trump again came to the prince’s defense, dismissing a CIA assessment that the de facto Saudi leader had been involved in Khashoggi’s death as “feelings.”

“No, they didn’t conclude. They did not come to a conclusion. They have feelings certain ways,” Trump said Thursday.

Separately, Mohammed was in the United Arab Emirates on Friday, on his first tour abroad since Khashoggi’s killing. The prince, who arrived in Abu Dhabi late Thursday, is also due to visit other Mideast countries, where he will be received by Arab leaders who have stood firmly by his side amid international outrage over Khashoggi’s slaying.

The crown prince will round off his tour with a stop in Argentina where he’ll come face-to-face with world leaders on Friday for the two-day Group of 20 summit. Among those expected to attend that summit are Trump and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.