Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his country’s investigation into journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s disappearance has determined that his killing was a “savage” and “premeditated murder.”
“It is clear that this savage murder did not happen at the drop of a dime but was a planned affair,” Erdogan said to Turkish parliament.
Khashoggi, a former advisor to Saudi intelligence whose column at the Washington Post was heavily critical of the Saudi royals, disappeared on October 2 after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, where he was finalizing divorce paperwork so he could marry his fiance.
Turkish officials claimed they have audio and video recordings showing he was captured and had his fingers cut off before he was brutally killed, beheaded, and dismembered.
Saudi Arabia originally denied knowing anything about the disappearance, saying he left alive through a back a door, but later revised their story to say that Khashoggi was accidentally killed when a fight broke out between him and the Saudis he met inside.
Erdogan described new details from Turkey’s investigation into the incident and demanded justice for the Saudis.
“Why was the 15-man Saudi team in Istanbul on the day of the murder?” Turkey’s president said. “On whose orders? We are seeking answers. Why was the consulate not opened to investigators immediately? When the murder was so clear, why were there so many different statements given by Saudis? Why has the body of someone, the killing of whom has been officially admitted, not been found? Who is the local collaborator who disposed of Khashoggi’s body? Saudi must answer all these questions.”
Erdogan said he plans to request of King Salman of Saudi Arabia that the crime be prosecuted in Turkey, not Saudi Arabia.
“This murder might have been committed at a consulate building which may be considered Saudi Arabian land, but it rests within the borders of Turkey,” he said.
The killing has worsened relations between the U.S. and longtime ally Saudi Arabia.
President Trump refused to consider scrapping multi-billion dollar arms deals with Saudi Arabia but warned of “severe” consequences if the government is found to have killed Khashoggi.