Khashoggi case: ‘Erdogan has a political game to play’

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian yesterday said that France was not in possession of recordings related to the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi as far as he was aware, contradicting remarks by Turkey’s president.

Khashoggi was killed in Saudi Arabia’s Istanbul consulate last month in a hit which President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says was ordered at the “highest levels” of the Saudi government.

Erdogan on Saturday said that France, Germany and Britain had been handed the tapes, but in an interview on France 2, Le Drian said this was not the case, as far as he knew.

Asked if that meant Erdogan was lying, Le Drian said: “It means that he has a political game to play in these circumstances.”

In response to the French comments, the communications director at the Turkish presidency Fahrettin Altun told AFP: “We find it unacceptable that he accused President Erdogan of ‘playing political games’. Let us not forget that this case would have been already covered up had it not been for Turkey’s determined efforts.”

US President Donald Trump and Erdogan have discussed how to respond to the killing last month of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a White House official said on Sunday.

Also yesterday, Britain’s Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt met with King Salman Bin Abdul Aziz in Saudi Arabia. He encouraged Saudi authorities to “cooperate fully with the Turkish investigation into his death”.

Hunt is the first British minister to visit Saudi Arabia since Khashoggi was killed.