US, Turkey leaders discuss journo's murder case on phone

TEHRAN(defapress)– US and Turkey presidents on Monday agreed in a telephone conversation on the need for clarifying the Saudi journalist's murder case.

News ID: 73216

Date: 22 October 2018 - 12:51

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held a phone conversation with his US counterpart Donald Trump on the killing of Saudi investigative journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkish media reported.

According to a statement by Turkey presidential office, the two sides agreed on bringing the issue into light.

Erdogan said last night he would on Tuesday speak about the murder case of the Saudi prominent journalist in Saudi consulate in Istanbul and the unsolved mystery behind it.

Investigation into the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, a critic of Saudi policies, is underway in Turkey, and yesterday 25 other witnesses were summoned to Istanbul's prosecutor's office.

A Turkish daily newspaper, Yeni Şafak, reported two days ago there are 45 witnesses to the Saudi journalist murder inside the consulate, all of whom are Turkish citizens and employees of the consulate.

Early on Saturday, officials in Riyadh issued a statement, confessing the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, yet claiming he died in a fistfight inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

Since the statement provided no information on the whereabouts of his body, some Turkish media called for a clear answer from Saudi Arabia officials to 'Where is the body?'

In an interview with Fox News on Sunday night, Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs Adel al-Jubeir said 'Saudi officials currently don’t know the exact cause of Khashoggi’s death or where his remains are.'

Turkish news channel, NTV, said 18 days after the murder, no details has been provided, adding a Saudi Arabian source says the body was handed over to 'a local collaborator to dispose.'

Saudi officials say its agents had been sent to Turkey to detain Khashoggi, but they failed to 'persuade him to return voluntarily to the kingdom'. And he was 'strangled after a fistfight' with the Saudi agents.

Turkish media say Saudi narrative of killing Khashoggi contradicts 'leaked information from unnamed Turkish security sources.'

The 59-year-old Saudi illustrious journalist entered on October second the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to collect documents for his forthcoming marriage and never came back out.

The Washington post columnist sharply rebuked Saudi Arabia's war in Yemen, financial crisis between Saudi Arabia and Canada and arresting women's rights activists.

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