Khashoggi news: Turkish president Erdogan urges Saudi Arabia to disclose who gave order to murder journalist
UN investigator said journalist was victim of 'extrajudicial execution' after Saudi prosecutor general says murder was premeditated crime
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The Saudi officials who killed journalist Jamal Khashoggi in their Istanbul consulate must reveal the location of his body, Turkey's president said as he sharply criticised the kingdom's handling of the case.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan also said Saudi Arabia's chief prosecutor will arrive in Turkey on Sunday as part of the investigation and will meet Turkish counterparts.
Turkey's state-run news agency said Turkish prosecutors plan to seek the extradition of 18 suspects.
Anadolu Agency said the Istanbul chief prosecutor's office submitted its request to the justice ministry, and the foreign ministry will formally request the extraditions.
On Thursday, Saudi prosecutors said Khashoggi's killing was premeditated, citing Turkish evidence and changing the country's account again to try to ease international outrage over the murder of a prominent critic of crown prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Turkey has other "information and evidence" about the killing by Saudi officials after Khashoggi entered the consulate on 2 October, and it will eventually reveal that information, Mr Erdogan said.
"There is no point in being too hasty," he said in an indication that Turkey is prepared to maintain pressure on Saudi Arabia, even as the kingdom struggles for ways to end the crisis.
CIA director Gina Haspel was in Turkey earlier this week to review evidence, and she briefed Donald Trump in Washington on Thursday.
What the US president called "one of the worst cover-ups in the history of cover-ups" was revealed to the world by Turkish leaks of information, including references to purported audio recordings of the killing, and security camera footage of the Saudi officials involved as they moved around Istanbul.
Key mysteries remaining include whether the killing was carried out with the knowledge of the crown prince, who denies it, and the location of Khashoggi's body.
"It is clear that he has been killed but where is it? You have to show the body," Mr Erdogan said during an address to Turkey's ruling party leaders.
He criticised initial Saudi statements that claimed Khashoggi had left the consulate unharmed after going there for paperwork related to his planned marriage to a Turkish woman.
"He will leave the consulate and not take his fiancee with him? Such childish statements do not go hand in hand with statesmanship," said Mr Erdogan, again urging Saudi Arabia to turn over 18 suspects the kingdom said it had arrested and would punish for the crime.
"If you cannot get them to speak ... then hand them over to us and let us put them on trial," he added.
Jamal Khashoggi death: key figures
Show all 7Mr Khashoggi's son Salah has left Saudi Arabia after the kingdom revoked a travel ban, allowing him to travel to the US.
Mr Khashoggi's fiancee said later that she has not received any condolence call from Saudi officials.
Hatice Cengiz, who is Turkish, also said in an interview on Turkish television channel HaberTurk: "I found myself in a darkness I cannot express."
She said she had asked US secretary of state Mike Pompeo, who called her about the case, whether he had any news that would make her happy.
"But he said he didn't," she added.
State department spokesperson Robert Palladino said Washington welcomed the decision to have Salah Khashoggi and his family leave Saudi Arabia. His US destination was not immediately known but his late father lived in the Washington area.
The statement from Saudi prosecutors that evidence showed Khashoggi's killing was premeditated contradicted an earlier Saudi assertion that rogue officials from the kingdom had killed him by mistake in a brawl.
That assertion, in turn, backtracked from an initial statement that Saudi authorities knew nothing about what happened to the columnist for the Washington Post.
The shifting explanations indicate Saudi Arabia is scrambling for a way out of the crisis that has enveloped the world's largest oil exporter and a major US ally in the Middle East.
But a solution seems a long way off, partly because of deepening scepticism in Turkey and elsewhere that the brazen crime could have been carried out without the involvement of Prince Mohammed, the kingdom's heir apparent.
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Turkish media have broadcast images showing two Saudi operatives allegedly linked to Khashoggi's murder carrying what appeared to be large black cases, which could purportedly be the journalist's remains.
Turkey has no intention of taking the case regarding Khashoggi's killing to an international court, but would share information if an international investigation was launched, its foreign secretary has said.
Mevluv Cavusoglu asked where Khashoggi's body was as he made the comments during a news conference with Palestinian foreign minister RIyad al-Maliki.
Saudi Arabia has said it has signed $56bn (£43.3bn) worth of deals at an investment conference dubbed "Davos in the Desert" and expected the United States to remain a key business partner despite a partial boycott of the event over the killing Khashoggi.
More than two dozen top officials and executives from the United States and Europe boycotted the conference over the fallout surrounding the journalist's death.
Saudi Arabia's public prosecutor has said Khashoggi's killing was a premeditated crime, according to information from Turkey, the state-run Saudi Press Agency and al-Ekhbariya TV reported.
Prosecutors are interrogating suspects on the basis of information provided by a joint Saudi-Turkish task force, Saud al-Mojeb said, according to the reports.
Saudi Arabia has said its crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, has attended the first meeting of a committee which aims to restructure the kingdom's intelligence services after the killing of Khashoggi.
It comes after the kingdom announced that 18 Saudis had been arrested, while four senior intelligence officials and an adviser to the crown prince had been fired over the murder.
Saudi Arabia is trying to distance Prince Salman from the slaying at the kingdom's consulate in Istanbul.
Turkish media reports said a member of his entourage was involved in the crime.
Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Rights Watch UK have said they will join a new legal challenge by the Campaign Against Arms Trade to challenge the UK's decision to issue licences for arms exports to Saudi Arabia over their use in Yemen's civil war.
Saudi Arabia's energy minister has conceded the scandal over Khashoggi's death has hurt the kingdom's image.
"It's not a death, it's a murder. We admit it, we're dealing with it. As such, we will be transparent and show our allies and friends in the United States ... that the kingdom is as unhappy about what has happened as anybody else," Khalid Al Falih told CNN on the sidelines of an investment conference in Riyadh.
"In fact, we are more unhappy because it has tarnished the name of the kingdom," he added.
Robert Fisk, The Independent's Middle East correspondent, has written about the murder of Jamal Khashoggi.
EU politicians are calling for an arms embargo on Saudi Arabia as well as a ban on equipment which could be used in any government crackdown.
They voted 325 for, one against, and 19 abstentions on a resolution calling on member countries "to impose an EU-wide arms embargo on Saudi Arabia" in response to the murder of Khashoggi.
The non-binding resolution also demands a halt to exports "of surveillance systems and other dual-use items that may be used in Saudi Arabia for the purposes of repression."
Leading Greens politician Ska Keller said "EU countries must not continue to turn a blind eye to the serious human rights violations committed by the Saudi government."
Many EU nations are debating a halt to arms exports but there has been no clear push for an embargo.
The director of the CIA, Gina Haspel, will meet with Donald Trump on Thursday to discuss Khashoggi's murder, the White House has said.
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