ANKARA SAYS UP TO FRANCE TO SORT OUT INTERNAL COMMUNICATION

provided French intelligence with audio recordings of the murder of Jamal Khashoggi last month, the country’s top communications authority confirmed yesterday.

A representative of French intelligence listened to the audio recording and reviewed detailed information, including a transcript, on Oct. 24, the communications director at the Turkish presidency, Fahrettin Altun, told Agence France-Presse (AFP) following France’s denials of receiving any recordings yesterday.

“If there is miscommunication between the French government’s various agencies, it is up to the French authorities - not Turkey - to take care of that problem,” Altun underlined. Altun said Ankara shared evidence linked to the murder with officials from a large number of countries and that France was “no exception.”

“I confirm that evidence pertaining to the Khashoggi murder has also been shared with the relevant agencies of the French government,” he said. In an interview with France 2 yesterday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said he was “at the moment not aware” of any information transmitted by Ankara in response to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s statements on giving an audio recording of the murder to several states, including France. When asked if the Turkish president was lying, Le Drian said, “It means that he has a political game to play in these circumstances.” Slamming the comments by Le Drian, Altun said that they are “unacceptable.”

“We find it unacceptable that he accused President Erdoğan of ‘playing political games,’” Altun said. “Le Drian’s most recent comments on Turkey’s handling of Jamal Khashoggi’s murder does not reflect the facts,” said Altun. “Let us not forget that this case would have been already covered up had it not been for Turkey’s determined efforts,” he added. Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu also falsified his French counterpart’s claims yesterday and reiterated that the recordings were shared with the French intelligence.