[ad_1]
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau became the first leader to publicly declare that intelligence officials in his country had listened to an audio recording that, according to Turkish officials, would be evidence of journalist Jamal Khashoggi's murder by police officers. Saudis.
At a press conference in Paris, Trudeau said Canadian officials were working with their Turkish counterparts in the investigation into Khashoggi's murder. He said that he had not personally listened to the recording. However, a Canadian government official told The Wall Street Journal that Mr. Trudeau was fully informed of its contents.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan did not mention Canada on Saturday when he said Turkey had shared the registration with the United States, Germany, France and the United Kingdom, as well as Saudi Arabia . Turkish officials said the recording had reported acts involved in the assassination of Mr. Khashoggi at the Kingdom's consulate in Istanbul on October 2nd.
"They are all aware of the conversations, they have listened to them," Erdogan said at Ankara airport, before heading off to join the Parisian leaders in Paris to commemorate the centenary of the First World War. .
Representatives from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United States opposed what happened to the defunct Saudi journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, until Saudi Arabia confirmed that he had been killed in his consulate in Istanbul. This is the story of each country. Photo: George Downs / The Wall Street Journal
Turkey routinely leaked evidence in the case, exerting international pressure on Saudi Arabia, which announced that it was investigating the killing. Riyadh arrested 18 people and fired two close associates of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, but the kingdom said he had no direct knowledge of the operation.
The White House said Saturday that she was not commenting on intelligence issues. A German official said that there had been an "exchange of information" but refused to develop. The United Kingdom Foreign Office has neither confirmed nor denied that the United Kingdom has received a registration.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Monday that he had no evidence to shed light on the assassination of the Saudi journalist.
"If the Turkish President has information to communicate to us, he must give it to us," said Le Drian on national television.
When asked if it meant that Mr. Erdogan was lying, Mr. Le Drian said, "That means he has a political game to play in these circumstances."
The Turkish authorities stated that Mr. Le Drian's remarks were an unacceptable accusation against Mr. Erdogan and did not reflect the facts.
"On October 24, a representative of the French intelligence services listened to audio recording and detailed information, including a transcript of the said recording," Agence France-Presse Fahrettin Altun, director of communications, told AFP. Turkish presidency, according to Turkish officials. "In the event of a communication problem between the various agencies of the French government, it is up to the French authorities and not to Turkey to deal with this problem."
Mr. Trudeau said he spoke on the phone with Mr. Erdogan a few weeks ago and had brief exchanges in Paris, where he thanked Mr. Erdogan for his strength in the murder of Mr. Khashoggi. "We continue to work with our allies as part of the investigation into the responsibility for the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, and we are currently discussing with our like-minded allies on the next steps towards Saudi Arabia," he said. he declared.
Diplomatic relations between Canada and Saudi Arabia have been strained since August, when Saudi Arabia degraded ties between the two countries after Canada's Foreign Ministry sent a tweet calling on the kingdom to immediately release activists imprisoned human rights. Saudi Arabia said that it considered the remarks, which have also been translated into Arabic, as unacceptable interference in its internal affairs. He expelled Canada's ambassador to the kingdom and ordered thousands of Saudi students studying in Canada to leave the country.
The diplomatic conflict did not affect a $ 10 billion agreement, agreed in 2014, to ship hundreds of armored vehicles from a Canadian subsidiary of
General Dynamics
Corp.
in Saudi Arabia.
The Canadian Liberal government has been pressured to cancel the deal, which was approved by the previous Conservative government, in response to Mr. Khashoggi's murder. Mr. Trudeau said last month that his government was reviewing the armored car contract, while warning that Canada would face billions of dollars in fines if it rescinded the deal. The government has not approved any new arms exports to Saudi Arabia during the review, the government said.
-David Gauthier-Villars in Istanbul contributed to this article.
Write to Kim Mackrael at [email protected] and Noemie Bisserbe at [email protected]
