Turkey urges U.S. to put its weight behind Khashoggi investigation
ISTANBUL (Reuters)
- Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan urged the United States on Friday to put its
weight behind the investigation into the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal
Khashoggi and not to set the matter aside because of its ties with Riyadh.
Khashoggi, a
Washington Post columnist and critic of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman,
was killed in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul by a team of Saudi operatives on
Oct. 2, provoking international revulsion.
“The CIA has not
yet put its full weight behind this issue ... The United States needs to put
its presence, its weight here,” Erdogan told broadcaster A Haber in an
interview. He added that Khashoggi should not be “cast aside” due to
Washington’s bilateral ties with the kingdom.
The CIA has
assessed it was likely the crown prince ordered the killing. Riyadh denies the prince
had any involvement.
President Donald
Trump has cited weapons sales to Saudi Arabia as an important source of U.S.
jobs and has stood by the crown prince. He is also reluctant to disturb the
strategic relationship with Saudi Arabia.
U.S. lawmakers
have pushed for more. Republican and Democratic members of the U.S. Senate
asked the Trump administration on Thursday to tell them more about Khashoggi’s
death, days after a missed deadline for a detailed report on the killing
prompted an angry bipartisan backlash.
Erdogan also said
that Turkey was determined to take the investigation to an international court,
adding that Ankara would deliver all documents and information regarding the
case to the authorities that would carry out the trial.
A U.N.-led inquiry
into Khashoggi’s murder said earlier this month that evidence pointed to a
brutal crime “planned and perpetrated” by Saudi officials.
After making
numerous contradictory statements about Khashoggi’s fate, Riyadh said he had
been killed and his body dismembered when negotiations to persuade him to
return to Saudi Arabia failed.
Reporting by Ali
Kucukgocmen; Editing by Alison Williams and Frances Kerry
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