ISTANBUL (AFP) – Turkey must keep insisting on justice for slain Riyadh critic Jamal Khashoggi even as ties with Saudi Arabia improve, his Turkish fiancee told AFP in an interview.
The grisly 2018 killing of Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul worsened already rocky relations between the two regional rivals, Turkey and Saudi Arabia.
“I think Turkey must somehow continue its insistence (for justice) even if it improves its relations,” Hatice Cengiz said after attending another hearing in the case at Istanbul’s main court this week.
“I don’t think it’s in anyone’s best interest to shut it down completely.”
Cengiz was waiting for Khashoggi outside the consulate as the murder took place.
The 59-year-old was a Saudi insider-turned-critic who wrote for The Washington Post and had gone to the consulate to obtain documents for his wedding to Cengiz.
He was dismembered in the consulate and his remains have never been found.
“In order for such a thing to not happen again, in order for this matter to at least reach the best possible level in moral and legal terms, (Turkey) should not abandon this case,” said Cengiz.
She has been living in Istanbul since the pandemic and follows the news closely. Today she keeps a low profile in the media, sending out tweets when reaction is needed to a major development in the case.
The assassination sparked international outrage that continues to reverberate, with Western spy agencies accusing the kingdom’s de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of authorizing the killing.
The murder had plunged ties between Ankara and Riyadh into a crisis.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the time said the order to kill “came from the highest levels” of the Saudi government though he never named the powerful crown prince.