Turkey Gave Khashoggi Murder Tapes To Key Foreign Nations – Erdogan

Turkey has given recordings on the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi to Saudi Arabia, the United States, Germany, France and Britain, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday.

Turkish sources have said previously that authorities have an audio recording purportedly documenting the murder.

“We gave the recordings, we gave them to Saudi Arabia, we gave them to Washington, to the Germans, to the French, to the English,” he said in a televised speech.

Speaking ahead of his departure for France to attend commemorations to mark the 100th anniversary of the end of World War 1, Erdogan said Saudi Arabia knows the killer of Khashoggi is among a group of 15 people who arrived in Turkey one day ahead of the October 2 killing.

“Saudi Arabia must now take our good intentions into consideration, interrogate these people and redeem themselves. There is no other option,” he said.

Riyadh denying information on body

Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist critical of the Saudi government and its de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was murdered at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

But Riyadh hasn’t yet identified the location of the body, despite requests by the sons of the slain Saudi journalist who made an emotional appeal for the return of their father’s body, saying they wanted to return to Saudi Arabia to bury him.

TRT World’s Caitlin McGee has more.

Search ends for Khashoggi body – report

Turkish authorities are ending the search for the journalist’s body believed to have been dissolved in acid, Al Jazeera reported on Saturday, quoting Turkish sources.

On Saturday, Turkish newspaper Sabah reported the killers of Khashoggi poured his remains down the drain after dissolving him in acid.

Samples taken from the drains at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul showed traces of acid, it said, without quoting sources.

This led investigators to believe the dead body of the insider-turned-critic of the Riyadh regime was disposed of through the drains as liquid, the paper said.

On Thursday, Middle East Eye, citing Turkish sources reported that there may be no remains of Khashoggi’s “dissolved” body and Turkish officials are calling for an Islamic prayer for the murdered.

The news website said the Turkish prosecutor’s office has reached the conclusion after investigators found traces of acid in the Saudi consul general’s residence and the drains connected to it, in Istanbul.

Qatar-broadcaster Al Jazeera also reported that the Turkish investigators found traces of “hydrofluoric acid and other chemicals” inside a well at the Saudi consul general’s home in Istanbul.

Quoting a source in the Turkish attorney general’s office, Al Jazeera said, “The killers dissolved the journalist’s dismembered body in acid in one of the rooms at Mohammed al Otaibi’s residence.”

Khashoggi was last seen entering the consulate on October 2 to obtain documents for his forthcoming marriage. His body has never been found.

After repeated denials, Saudi Arabia finally admitted the 59-year-old had been murdered at the mission in a “rogue” operation.

However, Erdogan has accused the “highest levels” of the Saudi government of ordering the hit, while some officials have pointed the finger at the all-powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Saudi cover-up alleged

Yasin Aktay, an advisor to Erdogan, suggested last week the body may have been dissolved in acid.

And on Monday, a Turkish official said Saudi Arabia sent two experts to Istanbul with the specific aim of covering up evidence after the murder.

Khashoggi’s Turkish fiancee Hatice Cengiz took to Twitter on Thursday writing, “I’m unable to express my sorrow to hear about dissolving your body Jamal!”

“They killed you and chopped up your body, depriving me and your family of conducting your funeral prayer and burying you in Madinah as wished.”

Macron, Trump want more details on killing

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump and France’s Emmanuel Macron agreed on Saturday that the Saudi authorities needed to shed full light on the murder, a French presidency source said.

The two leaders also agreed that the Khashoggi affair should not be allowed to cause further destabilisation in the MiddleEast and that it could create an opportunity to find a political resolution to the war in Yemen, according to the official.

Saudi Arabia, which has faces global criticism and potential sanctions over the murder of Khashoggi in its consulate inIstanbul, leads a coalition battling Houthi insurgents in Yemen.