Recep Tayyip Erdogan cast doubt on the Saudi claim that Jamal Khashoggi was killed in a fight at a Saudi in Istanbul. He promised a full disclosure.<\/b>
\nISTANBUL \u2014 President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, turning up the pressure on Saudi Arabia, promised Sunday to reveal everything his country knows about the killing of Jamal Khashoggi inside a Saudi consulate.
Mr. Erdogan\u2019s statement came as the Saudi foreign minister publicly apologized to Mr. Khashoggi\u2019s family, but stuck with his government\u2019s contention that the killing had been a \u201ctremendous mistake\u201d by Saudi operatives acting \u201coutside the scope of their authority.\u201d
Turkish officials have suggested that Mr. Khashoggi\u2019s death was ordered at the highest levels of the kingdom. And Mr. Erdogan, who has commented little on the matter publicly, on Sunday indicated that he has more to say about what happened.
\u201cWe said that we will reveal it,\u201d Mr. Erdogan said in a speech broadcast live on Sunday. \u201cGod willing, I will make my statement about Jamal Khashoggi in the parliamentary group on Tuesday.\u201d
Mr. Khashoggi, a journalist critical of the Saudi government, disappeared after entering its consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2. Turkey and Saudi Arabia have conducted what has been described as a joint investigation into Mr. Khashoggi\u2019s disappearance, conducting searches of both the consulate building and the nearby residence of the Saudi consul.
On Saturday, Saudi Arabia announced that Mr. Khashoggi had been killed in a \u201cbrawl\u201d inside the consulate, its first acknowledgment that he was dead, and that Saudis were responsible. It said 18 Saudis involved in the case had been detained.
The statement followed weeks of Saudi insistence that Mr. Khashoggi had left the consulate, unharmed, hours after entering.
On Sunday, in an interview with Fox News, Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said, \u201cThere obviously was a tremendous mistake made, and what compounded the mistake would be the attempt to try to cover up.\u201d
Asked if he had a message for Mr. Khashoggi\u2019s relatives, Mr. Jubeir said: \u201cThis is a terrible mistake. This is a terrible tragedy. Our condolences go out to them. We feel their pain.\u201d
Turkish officials have indicated that the Saudi version \u2014 that Mr. Khashoggi died in a botched attempt at interrogation and abduction \u2014 does not fully satisfy them.
For several days, Turkish officials speaking anonymously have told news organizations that a team of 15 Saudis flew to Istanbul on Oct. 2 to kill Mr. Khashoggi, most likely on the orders of the crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman. They have even claimed to have recordings of his torture and killing.
\u201cWe are searching for justice and it will be revealed in full nakedness,\u201d Mr. Erdogan said on Sunday afternoon, at an event to open a new subway line in Istanbul. \u201cNot with ordinary steps, but in full nakedness.\u201d
\u201cWhy did 15 people come here?\u201d he asked. \u201cWhy have 18 people been arrested? All of this must be explained with all the details. On Tuesday, I will tell this very differently in my parliamentary group speech. I will go into detail.\u201d
Mr. Erdogan makes a weekly address in Parliament to lawmakers from his Justice and Development Party. His speech is always broadcast live and often sets the government\u2019s agenda.
He had been uncharacteristically quiet about the scandal around Mr. Khashoggi\u2019s disappearance, even as a steady stream of leaks from his own government helped the case capture the world\u2019s attention and shook relations between Saudi Arabia and the United States. Yet Mr. Erdogan, who knew Mr. Khashoggi personally and took great affront at how Saudi Arabia handled the affair, did use information gathered by his intelligence services to pressure the Saudis into owning up.
In particular, Mr. Erdogan has aimed some of his ire toward Crown Prince Mohammed, whose firm grip on power in the kingdom has been called into question over the death of Mr. Khashoggi, who wrote columns for The Washington Post. Mr. Erdogan made an apparent swipe at the crown prince in his speech Sunday.
\u201cAnd right now, what does the world say about whom?\u201d he said. \u201cWe will look into all of this.\u201d
Mr. Khashoggi, who for years was close to the Saudi royal family, became a critic as Crown Prince Mohammed cracked down on dissent, moving to the United States.
Mr. Jubeir, the foreign minister, stuck to his government\u2019s insistence that the kingdom\u2019s leadership did not know of the operation to confront Mr. Khashoggi in the consulate in Istanbul, and that it did not know at first that he had been killed.
He specifically denied that the crown prince knew of the operation ahead of time, \u201cThe individuals who did this did this outside the scope of their authority,\u201d Mr. Jubeir said.
It was not until after some time after the killing that Saudi leaders realized that their account contradicted the information the Turks had, he said.
\u201cWe discovered that he was killed in the consulate,\u201d he said. \u201cWe don\u2019t know in terms of details how. We don\u2019t know where the body is.\u201d
Turkish officials have said that Mr. Khashoggi\u2019s body was dismembered by a Saudi forensics expert using a bone saw, and then disposed of. In recent days, investigators have combed through sites, including a forest just outside Istanbul and a farmhouse south the city, looking for evidence of his fate.
In comments published Saturday in the newspaper Hurriyet, Mr. Erdogan said he had expressed his irritation at the Saudi handling of the case to a Saudi delegation sent from Riyadh, and also in a phone conversation with King Salman last week.
He said he had complained about the actions of the Saudi consul, who did not cooperate with Turkish officials but invited a camera crew into the building to show that Mr. Khashoggi was not there. Turkish investigators were not allowed to search the consulate until 13 days after Mr. Khashoggi went there.
\u201cAt the end of the day, Saudi Arabia has to shed light on this,\u201d Mr. Erdogan told Hurriyet. \u201cIt\u2019s not possible for us to leave this unfinished.\u201d
Pro-government Turkish columnists have been echoing the sentiment that Saudi Arabia should come clean. Several have even called for Crown Prince Mohammed to step down.
\u201cNaturally the U. S. A. and Saudi Arabia are pleased with the development of events \u2014 both have the desire \u2018Let\u2019s wrap up it as it is,\u2019\u201d one columnist, Mahmut Ovur of the staunchly pro-government daily Sabah, wrote on Sunday.
The crown prince, he wrote, \u201chas no chance to emerge clean from this.\u201d<\/p>\n

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