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(ISTANBUL) – Faced with growing pressure on Saudi Arabia, Turkey has announced that it will unveil the details of its investigation Tuesday on the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and that US congressional leaders have stated that the Gulf Kingdom – especially his crown prince – would face serious difficulties. consequences for the death of the writer at the consulate of Saudi Arabia in Istanbul.
The announcement made Sunday by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that he will "deepen" the Khashoggi case in a speech to Parliament has strengthened the hope of clarifying the case in a case surrounded by mystery, contradictory testimony and shocking allegations from Khashoggi, a critic of Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who disappeared after entering the consulate on 2 October.
Erdogan took the floor after Saudi Arabia, in a statement on Saturday, finally acknowledged that Khashoggi, 59, had died at the consulate, although his explanation that he had been killed in the course of his life was the following: a "fist fight" sparked international skepticism and cover-up accusations. designed to absolve Prince Mohammed from direct responsibility. Saudi Arabia said 18 Saudis had been arrested and several senior intelligence officials had been fired.
The pro-government media in Turkey reported a different speech, according to which a team of 15 Saudi people would have gone to Turkey to kill the Washington Post columnist before leaving the country a few hours later in private jets.
"Why did these 15 people come here? Why were 18 people arrested? All of this needs to be explained in all its details, "said Erdogan.
At the same time, the chief prosecutor of Istanbul on Monday summoned 28 other officials of the Saudi consulate, including Turkish citizens and foreign nationals, to testify, the Turkish state TV channel TRT reported. Prosecutors have already interviewed the staff of the consulate; some Turkish employees reportedly said that they had been told not to go to work at the time of Khashoggi's disappearance.
Turkish news agency Anadolu Agency reported on Sunday that Khashoggi's fiancée Hatice Cengiz had received police protection 24 hours a day.
Also on Sunday, footage obtained by TRT World, a Turkish news channel broadcasting in English, showed Khashoggi as he was standing in front of a police fence before entering the consulate on October 2. be searched before continuing to the building.
Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told Fox News that the killing of Khashoggi was "a sneaky operation" and that "we do not know where the body is."
"The people who did this did so outside of their authority," he said. "Obviously, a huge mistake has been made and what has made it worse is the attempt to conceal. This is unacceptable for the government. "
However, a Republican in the US Senate said Saudi Arabia's explanation, which followed the kingdom's first denials that it knew nothing about Khashoggi's fate, was not credible.
Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, said Saturday in CNN's "State of the Union" that he was convinced that Prince Mohammed, the heir of the largest oil exporter in the world, was behind this assassination.
The Crown Prince has "now crossed a line and there must be a punishment and a price paid for it," Corker said. He also urged Turkey to return alleged audio recordings of Khashoggi's murder in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. The existence of such evidence has been reported in the Turkish media in a series of leaks, although Turkish officials have not yet confirmed that they had recordings.
"The Turks have talked more to the media than us," Corker said of NATO's ally.
The California representative, Adam Schiff, the largest Democrat on the House's intelligence committee, said in the ABC TV show "This Week" that murder should be an event that " would change the relations "of the United States and Saudi Arabia sanctions or other movements against it.
"We must suspend military sales, we must suspend some security assistance operations and impose sanctions on all those directly involved in this murder," Schiff said.
US President Donald Trump had also spoken of possible sanctions, but had declared that he did not want to suspend a proposed arms sale to Saudi Arabia, of an amount of 110. billions of dollars, because that would hurt the American manufacturers. He first said that he believed in the Saudi account. Speaking late Saturday after a campaign rally in Nevada, Trump said he needed to learn more about the murder and would work with Congress on the US response. He also said that he would soon talk to Prince Mohammed.
Britain, Germany and France issued a joint statement condemning the assassination of Khashoggi, stressing that there was an "urgent need to clarify exactly what had happened ".
In a statement released on Sunday, governments said attacks on journalists were unacceptable and "cause great concern to our three countries". They added that the "hypotheses" proposed until now in the Saudi inquiry should be considered credible.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters in Berlin on Sunday that she was in favor of a freeze on arms exports to Saudi Arabia.
