Turkey:

Khashoggi Murder in Saudi Consulate 'Savagely Planned'

Date: 22 October 2018 - 21:25

News ID: ۵۸۷۹۲

Istanbul (AFP) – Turkey on Monday said that the murder of Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul was "savagely planned", vowing nothing would remain secret in a case that has severely tarnished the image of powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Upping the pressure on Riyadh, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has vowed to reveal the "naked truth" on Tuesday about the Khashoggi case.
The Washington Post contributor, 59, was murdered almost three weeks ago after stepping inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
After more than two weeks of near silence, Saudi Arabia finally admitted Khashoggi was killed in the consulate but the kingdom's explanations are seen by friends and foes alike as contradictory and evasive.
The case has shone the spotlight on Crown Prince Mohammed. He has spearheaded a reform drive for the kingdom but now faces a stream of allegations -- denied by Riyadh -- that he ordered the killing of Khashoggi.
CNN International broadcast images it said showed a Saudi official playing the role of a body double for Khashoggi, wearing his clothes while leaving the consulate in an apparent bid to falsely show the journalist had left safely.
White House advisor Jared Kushner -- the son-in-law of President Donald Trump -- said he had urged Prince Mohammed to be "fully transparent" as "the world is watching."
The spokesman of Erdogan's ruling party Omer Celik said the killing "was planned in an extremely savage manner".
It was the first official indication that Ankara believes a murder plan was coordinated in advance.
"We are faced with a situation where there has been a lot of effort to whitewash this," he complained.
One of Erdogan's advisors, Yasin Aktay, wrote in the Yeni Safak daily that the Saudi version given so far "feels like our intelligence is being mocked".
"From the start, the line of our president has been clear. Nothing will remain secret in this case," presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin told reporters, a day ahead of a key speech by Erdogan on the case.
Yeni Safak said Saudi security official Maher Abdulaziz Mutreb, head of a team of 15 Saudis sent to Istanbul for the task, called the head of Prince Mohammed's office, Bader al-Asaker, "four times after the murder".
Abdulkadir Selvi, whose Hurriyet newspaper columns are closely watched for indications of Erdogan's thinking, wrote that Khashoggi was slowly strangled to death for eight minutes and a Saudi forensic specialist then cut his body into 15 pieces while listening to music.
"We cannot close this file until the crown prince is brought to account and removed from his post. For 50 years we cannot live with a crown prince who is an enemy of Turkey," said Selvi.
Meanwhile with Khashoggi's remains still missing, Turkish police found an abandoned car belonging to the Saudi consulate in an underground car park in the Sultangazi district of Istanbul, state media said.

Khashoggi went to the consulate on October 2 to get documents ahead of his upcoming wedding to his Turkish fiancée.