An international investigation into the murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi is essential, Turkey’s foreign minister said Wednesday, Al Jazeera reported. He restated his country’s decisiveness to solve the murder.
Khashoggi entered the building on October 2 to obtain documentation certifying he had divorced his ex-wife. He was not seen since.
Saudi Arabia has admitted that the Saudi critic died in a premeditated murder inside its Istanbul consulate – after weeks of consistent denials that it had anything to do with his disappearance.
Turkish media have reported Khashoggi was killed and dismembered based on recordings from the consulate. They say he died at the hands of a 15-member assassination squad from Saudi Arabia.
ALSO READ: Crimes against Journalists: Who was Jamal Khashoggi and what his killing means for press freedom
“We will do whatever it takes to bring the murder to light. We have shown the evidence to all those who wanted to see,” Mevlut Cavusoglu told the country’s parliament.
Turkey had earlier said it would cooperate in an international investigation, and had called for a UN probe.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said his government has shared recordings related to the October 2 killing with a few nations, including the United States.
Moreover, US Republican Senator Lindsey Graham hit out at Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Tuesday, saying the Saudi crown prince is “unstable and unreliable”, Bloomberg reported.
Graham, who has been a vocal critic of bin Salman since the murder of Khashoggi, said he doesn’t see the “situation getting fixed as long as he’s [bin Salman] is around”.
“I am of the opinion that the current leadership, the MBS leadership, has been a disaster for the relationship and the region, and I will find it very difficult to do business as usual with somebody who’s been this unstable,” he said as quoted by Bloomberg.
Graham said there is still no plan in place, but he and other senators are discussing sanctions against Saudi Arabia over Khashoggi’s death.
