ANKARA – Turkey on Monday called on Saudi Arabia to reveal the “wholetruth” about the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, as the whereabouts of thejournalist’s body dominated a visit to the country by Riyadh’s topprosecutor.
Khashoggi’s death inside the kingdom’s Istanbul consulate has brought nearunprecedented international scrutiny on Saudi Arabia, which is seeking todraw a line under the crisis as Western powers demand answers.
The head of the Saudi investigation, Attorney General Sheikh Saud al-Mojeb,who last week acknowledged that the killing was “premeditated” based onTurkish evidence, met with Istanbul chief prosecutor Irfan Fidan for around75 minutes on Monday, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported.
Mojeb was then expected to inspect the Saudi consulate. Turkish ForeignMinister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Monday said there was “an advantage in ourprosecutors sharing information and working together”.
“The cooperation must continue, but it must not be drawn out or turned intoa diversion. The investigation must be completed as soon as possible, sothat the whole truth is revealed,” he told a press conference in Istanbul.
Asked about the whereabouts of Khashoggi’s body, which remain a mysterynearly a month after his death, Cavusoglu said that “as those who committedthe murder are in Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabia has a very largeresponsibility”.
Khashoggi, a Washington Post contributor who had criticised Saudi Arabia’spowerful Crown Prince Mohammed-bin Salman, vanished after entering theconsulate on October 2 to obtain paperwork for his marriage to his Turkishfiancee. According to Turkey broadcaster TRT, Mojeb asked Turkishinvestigators to hand over the full findings of their own probe, but therequest was rejected.
TRT said the Turkish prosecutor then demanded Mojeb give up any informationof the whereabouts of Khashoggi’s body. Saudi authorities have arrested 18men over the murder, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hasrequested the suspects be extradited for trial in Turkey.
However Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir rejected the request, sayingthe men will be prosecuted in Saudi Arabia, dismissing media “hysteria”.Erdogan has also questioned why Saudi Arabia will not reveal the locationof the body, as well as details of who carried out the hit. – APP/AFP