ANKARA (Middle East Eye) – Rights groups have urged Turkey not to transfer the trial of 26 Saudi nationals charged in the killing of columnist Jamal Khashoggi to the kingdom, saying it would be a “cynical abdication” of a promise to seek justice for the murder that happened on Turkish soil.
On Thursday, the Turkish prosecutor cited a lack of progress in apprehending the suspects, non-enforcement of Interpol red notices, and the absence of suspects’ testimonies - as reasons the case should be passed on to Saudi authorities.
The Turkish court will decide on the issue next week, but Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said on Friday that he will give a positive opinion on the request.
If the court agrees to move the case, it would mark a sharp departure from Ankara’s original stance, in which it said it was “clear that the judicial system in Turkey is better equipped to genuinely serve the cause of justice in this case”.
Erol Onderoglu, the Turkey representative for Reporters Without Borders, monitored the hearing on Thursday and said the prosecutor’s decision was “extremely disappointing”.
“Handing the case over to Saudi Arabia would be a serious blow to any remaining chance of criminal justice for Jamal Khashoggi’s killers,” Onderoglu said in a statement.
“We urge the Turkish courts to do their part to fight impunity for this horrific crime by seeing this case through.”
Seth Binder, advocacy officer at the Project on Middle East Democracy (Pomed), told Middle East Eye that the decision represented “another blow for Jamal’s family and fiancee Hatice (Cengiz) “.
Khashoggi, 59, was murdered on October 2, 2018, after he entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to obtain a document stating that he was divorced so he could marry his Cengiz, a Turkish citizen.
Recording and other evidence gathered by Turkish authorities revealed how a team of Saudi agents subdued, killed and then dismembered the journalist inside the diplomatic mission.
Saudi Arabia initially issued conflicting stories about Khashoggi’s disappearance, but eventually said that he was killed in a “rogue” operation. Saudi authorities had reportedly lured the ill-fated journalist into the consulate with guarantees of his safety while sending in a professional death squad.
Khashoggi’s murder triggered a global outcry and put pressure on Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS), who according to U.S. intelligence had approved the operation to kill or capture his critic.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said the murder had been ordered at the “highest levels” of the Saudi government, an accusation that has already strained the relations between the two countries and led to an unofficial Saudi boycott of Turkish goods, which cut Ankara’s exports to Riyadh by 90 percent.
The request by the Turkish prosecutor comes as Turkey seeks to mend ties with Saudi Arabia.