Khashoggi audio not passed to US
TURKEY has not shared audio recordings said to document the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in İstanbul, its foreign minister said yesterday, dismissing reports it had passed them on to the United States.
Saudi Arabia has denied Turkish allegations that Mr Khashoggi was murdered and his body removed from the consulate after he entered on October 2.
Turkish pro-government newspaper Yeni Şafak has published what it said were details from the audio, including that his torturers severed Mr Khashoggi’s fingers during an interrogation and later beheaded and dismembered him.
ABC News, citing a senior Turkish official, reported on Thursday that the recording had been played for US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during his visit to Ankara a day earlier and that he was given a transcript.
Mr Pompeo denied the report, telling reporters, “I’ve heard no tape, I’ve seen no transcript.”
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu told reporters during a trip to Albania: “Turkey has not given a voice recording to Pompeo or any other American official.”
“We will share the results that emerge transparently with the whole world. We have not shared any information at all with any country,” he added.
Turkish police meanwhile are searching a forest on the outskirts of İstanbul and a city near the Sea of Marmara for Mr Khashoggi’s remains, two senior Turkish officials said on Thursday.
His disappearance and presumed death has caused an international outcry and strained relations between Saudi Arabia and the West.
US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and senior ministers from France, Britain and the Netherlands have abandoned plans to attend next week’s investor conference in Riyadh, joining a list of Western business executives and putting the high-profile event in question. Airbus said yesterday its defence chief Dirk Hoke would no longer attend either.
British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said yesterday allegations regarding Mr Khashoggi would be totally unacceptable if true but any response by Britain would be “considered”.
“Part of our reaction will depend on the Saudi reaction, and whether we sense that they are taking it as seriously as we are taking it. But this is a very, very serious matter,” Mr Hunt told BBC radio.
US President Donald Trump has appeared unwilling to distance himself too much from the Saudis, citing Riyadh’s role in countering Iranian influence in the region and tens of billions of dollars in potential arms deals.
He said on Thursday he believes Mr Khashoggi is dead and that the US response to Saudi Arabia will likely be “very severe” but that he wanted to get to the bottom of what happened. He has previously speculated without providing evidence that “rogue killers” could be responsible.
Mr Trump, who has forged closer ties with Saudi Arabia and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, says the United States has asked Turkey for any audio or video evidence, while Mr Pompeo said Riyadh should be given a few more days to complete its own probe.
A US government source said US intelligence agencies are increasingly convinced of Prince Mohammed’s culpability in the operation against Mr Khashoggi, which they believe resulted in his death. Prince Mohammed has painted himself as the face of a new, vibrant Saudi Arabia, diversifying its economy away from reliance on oil and making some social changes.
But there has been criticism of some of his moves, including Riyadh’s involvement in the Yemen war, the arrest of women activists, and a diplomatic row with Canada.
Turkish authorities widened the geographic focus of their search after tracking the routes and stops of cars that left the Saudi consulate and the consul’s residence on the day Mr Khashoggi was last seen.