Turkish President should disclose details of the investigation into Jamal Khashoggi's assassination


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President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was to release on Tuesday details of the Turkish investigation into the death of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in a much-awaited speech that he said was going to reveal the "naked truth" about Khashoggi's fate.

Since Khashoggi's death three weeks ago, after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, the Saudi and Turkish governments have presented very different versions of what has happened to him. The history of Saudi Arabia has changed dramatically over time, from assertions that it would come out of the consulate without an abortion to the final recognition of the assassination of Khashoggi, allegedly in a hand-to-hand fight. Saudi "rogue" agents.

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said on Tuesday that the kingdom was engaged in a "thorough investigation" into the journalist's death and sent a team to Turkey.

From the beginning, Turkish officials said that Khashoggi was premeditatedly killed by a team of Saudi officials who had been sent to Istanbul from the Saudi capital, Riyadh, and that his body was subsequently dismembered. In the last three weeks, Turkish officials have published detailed information about their investigation in the media, with the aim of strengthening their cause and imposing confessions – and possibly other concessions – on Saudi leaders. , analysts said.

Speaking Tuesday in Indonesia, Mr Jubeir said that Saudi investigators had "discovered evidence of a murder." He also promised to put in place mechanisms to avoid similar incidents in the future, without specifying what they would be.

Khashoggi, a Washington Post contributor who had written articles criticizing Saudi leaders in the past year, went to the consulate in the afternoon of October 2 to obtain documents allowing him to remarry. .


President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was to unveil Tuesday the details of Turkey's investigation into the death of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Erdogan, right, shakes hands with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman before their meeting in Jiddah (Saudi Arabia) in July 2017. (STF / Presidency Press Service / Pool Photo via AP)

His death cast a harsh light on the rule of the young Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, who eased social restrictions at home while pursuing relentless crackdowns against rivals and detractors, imprisoning hundreds of people . Mohammed also tried to convince exiled dissidents like Khashoggi, who was living in Virginia, to return to Saudi Arabia, said Khashoggi's friends and other exiles.

Shortly after Erdogan's staging in Ankara, Mohammed is expected to make his own appearance in Riyadh, opening a historic conference on investment aimed at signaling again that the kingdom is open to business.

But while last year 's guest list presented itself as a legend of the world' s top business elite, preparations for Tuesday 's event were tainted by withdrawals. from a stream of Western investors and politicians, including Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Christine Lagarde, President of the International Monetary Fund.

Tuesday's hearing is expected to be dominated by companies from the Middle East, Asia and Russia, suggesting that the Western boycott could have a limited impact on Saudi Arabia's economic prospects.


Security personnel on Monday monitor the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. The Saudi kingdom Mohammed bin Salman has called on Jamal Khashoggi 's son, the kingdom announced Monday, to express his condolences for the death of the journalist killed at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul by alleged perpetrators. a member of the king's entourage. (Lefteris Pitarakis / AP)

The Khashoggi affair has also embarrassed the Trump government, which sees the Crown Prince as one of its closest Arab allies and Saudi Arabia as the cornerstone of the US strategy to counter Iran. CIA Director Gina Haspel visited Turkey on Monday, where she should assess the strength of the evidence that Turkish officials have been feeding the media over the past weeks..

A series of Turkish video leaks that surfaced on Monday showed that the Saudis were trying to hide their tracks after Khashoggi's death, including images of men at the consulate burning documents and a body wearing Khashoggi's clothes, to make it clear. the journalist. had left the consulate as claimed by the Saudis.

The leaks also seemed intended to create a sense of anticipation before the speech of Erdogan, who had reprimanded the Saudis in recent weeks for not cooperating with the Turkish investigation, without, however, accusing the Saudi government of Khashoggi's death.

On Sunday, in a glimpse of his speech, Erdogan explained that he would explain the episode "in a very different way," reported the semi-official Anadolu news agency.

"The incident will be fully revealed," he said.

Louisa Loveluck in Beirut contributed to this report.

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