An advisor to Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Wednesday that Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman has on his hands the “blood” of the journalist, Jamal Khashoggi who was murdered inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October, 2.
The statement is the bluntest to date by a figure associated with the Turkish president on the Saudi prince’s involvement in the murder.
Ilnur Cevik wrote in a column in Turkey’s Yeni Birlik newspaper “it is a disgrace that reaches all the way to Crown Prince [Mohammed Bin] Salman. At least five members of the execution team are Salman’s right hands and are people that wouldn’t act without his knowledge,”.
“Even if President Trump saved bin Salman, in the eyes of the world he is a suspicious person with Khashoggi’s blood on his hands” he added.
Read: Erdogan’s speech: Has Turkey ‘sold out’ Khashoggi?
It was not immediately clear whether Cevik’s views reflect Erdogan’s views, who stressed during speeches on Tuesday and Wednesday that those responsible for Khashoggi’s murder should not escape justice starting “from those who ordered his murder to those who carried it out”.
Khashoggi, 59, entered the Turkish consulate in Istanbul, on October 2 to obtain documents for his prospective marriage. He never appeared afterwards.
Only on Saturday, Riyadh admitted that Khashoggi was killed in the consulate during a fistfight with Saudi officials who tried to convince him to return to Riyadh.
However, Riyadh did not say where the body of Khashoggi was taken.