Turkish leader vows to lift lid on Saudi journalist Khashoggi’s death

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed on Sunday to reveal within days the “naked truth” over the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Riyadh, however, insisted it did not know the whereabouts of his body and that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had been unaware of any operation to kill him.

In his strongest comments to date on the affair, US President Donald Trump has accused Saudi Arabia of lying about the killing of Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist who fell out of favour with Riyadh, as pressure built on the administration to strike a tougher line.

But the Saudi foreign minister, Adel al-Jubeir, insisted on Sunday that Prince Mohammed was not aware of the killing and that the kingdom did not know where the body was.

Erdogan, whose ties to Saudi Arabia appear to have further soured over the Khashoggi case, said he would reveal the findings of his country’s investigation into the killing in the coming days.

His statement came the day after Saudi authorities conceded Khashoggi had been killed inside their diplomatic compound in Istanbul. “We are looking for justice here and this will be revealed in all its naked truth, not through some ordinary steps but in all its naked truth,” Erdogan told a rally in Istanbul.

Erdogan is expected to make a full statement to his party’s MPs in parliament on Tuesday.

Turkish officials have said they believe that 15 Saudi men who arrived in Istanbul on two flights on October 2 were connected to his death.

Riyadh reacted by claiming one of the 15 had died in a car accident years ago.

Saudi officials originally said Khashoggi, who stepped inside the doors of the diplomatic mission on October 2, had left unharmed, before announcing he had been killed inside the building in what they described as an altercation.

The kingdom has since admitted Khashoggi died in a “brawl” inside the consulate and said it had fired five top officials and arrested 18 others in an investigation of the killing.

“Why did the 15 men come here? Why were the 18 people arrested? That should be explained in all its details,” Erdogan said.

Khashoggi, who would have been 60 this month, sought refuge in the US after he fled his native Saudi Arabia following the 2017 appointment of strongman Mohammed bin Salman as heir to the throne.

As the Turkish leader is expected to reveal all details into the journalist’s killing, Trump stepped back from his stance that Saudi Arabia’s latest explanation over the death was credible amid mounting pressure back at home.

“Obviously there’s been deception and there’s been lies,” he said of the shifting accounts of Khashoggi’s death offered by Riyadh.

Britain, France and Germany have demanded Saudi Arabia clarify how he died, backed by credible facts.

Australia, Canada, the UN and the EU have also demanded greater clarity on his death.

Germany would not export arms to Saudi Arabia while the current uncertainty over the fate of Khashoggi persisted, Chancellor Angela Merkel said.

“We condemn this act in the strongest terms,” she said.

“There is an urgent need to clarify what happened.

“As far as arms exports are concerned, those can’t take place in the current circumstances.”