Turkey on Monday lashed out at “unacceptable” comments by the French foreign minister who accused President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of playing a “political game” over the murder of Jamal Khashoggi.
Turkey on Monday lashed out at “unacceptable” comments by the French foreign minister who accused President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of playing a “political game” over the murder of Jamal Khashoggi.
Erdogan said on Saturday that Turkey had shared recordings linked to the Saudi journalist’s murder last month with Riyadh, as well as the United States, France, Britain and other allies, without giving details of the tapes’ specific content.
In an interview with France 2 television on Monday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said he “for the moment was not aware” of any information transmitted by Ankara.
Asked if the Turkish president was lying, he said: “It means that he has a political game to play in these circumstances.”
His comments provoked fury in Ankara.
“We find it unacceptable that he accused President Erdogan of ‘playing political games’,” the communications director at the Turkish presidency, Fahrettin Altun, told AFP in a written statement.
“Let us not forget that this case would have been already covered up had it not been for Turkey’s determined efforts.”
Khashoggi, a Washington Post contributor and critic of the Saudi government, was last seen entering the consulate on October 2 to obtain documents for his forthcoming marriage to a Turkish woman.
Turkey’s chief prosecutor has said he was strangled and then dismembered as part of a premeditated plan. There have been claims that his body was dissolved in acid.
– ‘No exception’-
After repeated denials, Riyadh finally admitted the 59-year-old had been murdered at the mission in what it called a “rogue” operation.
Erdogan has accused the “highest levels” of the Saudi government of ordering the hit, without directly pointing the finger at all-powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Turkey has avoided directly pointing the finger at Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman over the Khashoggi killing
STRINGER, SPA/AFP/File
He has said he does “not believe for a second” that the prince’s father King Salman ordered the crime.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told the crown prince in a phone call on Sunday that the United States will hold accountable all those involved in the killing.
The murder and the war in Yemen, which has pushed that country to the brink of famine, are two of the main sources of strain in the decades-old alliance between Washington and Riyadh.
Altun said Le Drian’s comments about the investigation “do not reflect the facts”.
He said Ankara had shared evidence linked to the murder with officials from a large number of countries and that France was “no exception”.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at the weekend he had shared recordings linked to the murder of Jamal Khashoggi with a number of countries
ADEM ALTAN, AFP/File
“I confirm that evidence pertaining to the Khashoggi murder has also been shared with the relevant agencies of the French government,” he said.
A representative of French intelligence listened to the audio recording and examined detailed information including a transcript on October 24, he added.
“If there is miscommunication between the French government’s various agencies, it is up to the French authorities -– not Turkey -— to take care of that problem,” Altun said.
– Canada ‘fully briefed’-
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Monday that his government had been “fully briefed” on recordings provided by Ankara.
“Canada has been fully briefed up on what Turkey had to share,” Trudeau said at a press conference in Paris, where he was attending a peace forum hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his government had been “fully briefed” on recordings linked to the Khashoggi killing
, AFP
Trudeau said he had brief exchanges with Erdogan over the weekend in Paris where world leaders attended commemorations marking the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I.
“I thanked him for his strength in responding to the Khashoggi situation.”
Asked if he had heard the recording himself, he said: “I have not.”
German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman Steffen Seibert said Turkish and German secret services had an “exchange” on the Khashoggi file, but declined to elaborate.
“I can tell you that there was an exchange between secret services on this point,” he told a press briefing.
Meanwhile, British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt was due to visit Saudi Arabia on Monday for a meeting with King Salman and the crown prince over the murder.
“It is clearly unacceptable that the full circumstances behind his murder still remain unclear,” Hunt said.
He encouraged Saudi authorities to “co-operate fully with the Turkish investigation into his death.”
