ANKARA – Saudi Arabia’s chief prosecutor will visit Istanbul on Sunday tospeak with Turkish authorities as part of the investigation into the murderof journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Turkey’s president said Friday.
“They (the Saudis) are sending the chief prosecutor on Sunday to Turkey,”President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, adding that Ankara had more evidenceon the killing.
The 59-year-old Khashoggi, a Washington Post contributor and a critic ofRiyadh, was killed on October 2 while visiting the Saudi consulate inIstanbul to obtain paperwork for his marriage to a Turkish woman.
Riyadh acknowledged on Thursday that the murder appeared to have beenpremeditated, on the basis of evidence supplied by Turkey.
Turkish media have published a series of grisly revelations about themurder.
Erdogan, who has so far stopped short of directly blaming the Saudigovernment, said Turkey had already shared evidence with countriesincluding Saudi Arabia and added it had even more.
“It is not that we don’t have any other information or documents. We do.Tomorrow is another day,” he said.
The Turkish leader had mocked Saudi Arabia’s initial explanation ofKhashoggi’s disappearance — that he left the consulate alive — as”childish” and “far from state seriousness”.
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He pressed Riyadh to reveal who ordered the killing and the whereabouts ofthe body.
“You need to show this body,” he said.
He also said that the 18 Saudis detained over the murder knew who killedKhashoggi.
“The culprit is among them. If that is the case, then who is the localconspirator? You have to tell,” said Erdogan.
“Unless you tell, Saudi Arabia will not be free from this suspicion.”
Erdogan on Wednesday spoke on the phone with Saudi Arabia’s Crown PrinceMohammed bin Salman for the first time since the murder. – APP/AFP
