Turkey: West protecting Khashoggi killers in return for benefits

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu yesterday accused Western countries of covering up for the killers of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in return for arms deals with Saudi Arabia.

Speaking at a municipal gathering in Istanbul, Cavusoglu said the Saudi authorities had to admit to the murder because of the transparent policies followed by Turkey.

“But where is the body? This person was killed but his body cannot be found? What did they do with it? The Saudi attorney-general spoke of a local collaborator; who is the local collaborator?” Cavusoglu said.

“If you have a local collaborator, what is his name?” he added, noting that the Saudi attorney-general had said that the Saudi authorities will send a portrait of what the collaborator is suspected of looking like to Turkey.

Khashoggi was last seen entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, on 2 October. Turkey says a hit squad of 15 people came from the kingdom to assassinate him. Though Saudi denies the accusations that state forces took part in the murder, it has admitted that the journalist was killed on the premises.

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