Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told lawmakers on Tuesday that Turkey had "strong evidence" the murder of Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi was planned in advance by Saudi officials, contradicting Saudi accounts that the journalist died accidentally in a "fistfight" in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
The Saudi government's alleged involvement in the journalist's death has caused an international outcry and prompted Germany to halt arms sales to the country.
What did Erdogan say?
- Turkey has strong evidence that Saudi officials planned Khashoggi's murder days in advance.
- Saudi team visited forest in Istanbul and Yalova before Khashoggi's disappearance on October 2.
- Consulate security cameras were removed.
- A day before the murder, a number of forensics, intelligence specialists arrived in Istanbul
- A Saudi team of 15 entered the consulate on the day of Khashoggi's murder.
- Eighteen people arrested in Saudi Arabia in relation to the murder matches those identified by the Turkish intelligence.
- Khashoggi was killed in a violent, savage murder.
- He had no doubt to question the integrity of the Saudi King.
- The issue of diplomatic immunity under the Vienna Convention would be discussed in regards to the case.
- The suspects should be tried in Istanbul and not in Saudi Arabia.
Erdogan said Khashoggi was violently murdered
Only Turkey knows: Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said hours before the speech that Turkey had not shared any information about the case with other countries. He added however that Ankara would be willing to cooperate with an international probe. Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told reporters that such a killing must "never happen again" and promised a thorough investigation into Kashoggi's death.
Read more: Jamal Khashoggi: A mysterious disappearance and death
Turkey-Saudi rift: Relations between the two Middle Eastern countries were already strained amid disagreements over the conflict in Syria. DW's Istanbul correspondent Dorian Jones says the Turkish president's revelations could worsen ties even further: "If Turkey has information linking the crown prince to the murder, the kingdom could face its worst crisis in decades."
Read more: Jamal Khashoggi's murder through the lens of Middle Eastern media
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Jamal Khashoggi: A mysterious disappearance and death
Vanishes into thin air
October 2: Prominent journalist Jamal Khashoggi was last seen entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, where he had gone to obtain an official document for his upcoming marriage to his Turkish fiancee, Hatice Cengiz. He never emerged from the building, prompting Cengiz, who waited outside, to raise the alarm.
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Jamal Khashoggi: A mysterious disappearance and death
Confusion over whereabouts
October 3: Turkish and Saudi officials came up with conflicting reports on Khashoggi's whereabouts. Riyadh said the journalist had left the mission shortly after his work was done. But Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said the journalist was still in the consulate.
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Jamal Khashoggi: A mysterious disappearance and death
Murder claims
October 6: Turkish officials said they believed the journalist was likely killed inside the Saudi consulate. The Washington Post, for which Khashoggi wrote, cited unnamed sources to report that Turkish investigators believe a 15-member team "came from Saudi Arabia" to kill the man.
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Jamal Khashoggi: A mysterious disappearance and death
Ankara seeks proof
October 8: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on Saudi Arabia to prove that Khashoggi left its consulate in Istanbul. Turkey also sought permission to search the mission premises. US President Donald Trump voiced concern about the journalist's disappearance.
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Jamal Khashoggi: A mysterious disappearance and death
'Davos in the Desert' hit
October 12: British billionaire Richard Branson halted talks over a $1 billion Saudi investment in his Virgin group's space ventures, citing Khashoggi's case. He also pulled out of an investment conference in Riyadh dubbed the "Davos in the Desert." His move was followed by Uber's Dara Khosrowshahi, JP Morgan's Jamie Dimon and a host of other business leaders.
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Jamal Khashoggi: A mysterious disappearance and death
Search operation
October 15: Turkish investigators searched the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. The search lasted more than eight hours and investigators removed samples from the building, including soil from the consulate garden and a metal door, one official said.
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Jamal Khashoggi: A mysterious disappearance and death
Death after fistfight
October 19: Saudi Arabia finally admitted that Khashoggi died at the consulate. The kingdom's public prosecutor said preliminary investigations showed the journalist was killed in a "fistfight." He added that 18 people had been detained. A Saudi Foreign Ministry official said the country is "investigating the regrettable and painful incident."
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Jamal Khashoggi: A mysterious disappearance and death
'Grave mistake'
October 21: Saudi Arabia provided yet another account of what happened to Khashoggi. The kingdom's foreign minister admitted the journalist was killed in a "rogue operation," calling it a "huge and grave mistake," but insisted that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had not been aware of the murder. Riyadh said it had no idea where Khashoggi's body was.
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Jamal Khashoggi: A mysterious disappearance and death
Germany halts arms sales
October 21: German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Germany would put arms exports to Saudi Arabia on hold for the time being, given the unexplained circumstances of Khashoggi's death. Germany is the fourth largest exporter of weapons to Saudi Arabia after the United States, Britain and France.
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Jamal Khashoggi: A mysterious disappearance and death
Strangled to death, dissolved in acid
October 31: The Turkish prosecutor concluded that Khashoggi was strangled to death soon after entering the consulate, and was then dismembered. Another Turkish official later claimed the body was dissolved in acid. Turkish President Erdogan said the order to murder the journalist came from "the highest levels" of Saudi Arabia's government.
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Jamal Khashoggi: A mysterious disappearance and death
Grilled at the UN
November 5: Saudi Arabia told the United Nations it would prosecute those responsible for Khashoggi's murder. This came as the United States and dozens of other countries raised the journalist's death before the UN Human Rights Council and called for a transparent investigation.
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Jamal Khashoggi: A mysterious disappearance and death
Fiancee in mourning
November 8: Khashoggi's fiancee, Hatice Cengiz, wrote on Twitter that she was "unable to express her sorrow" upon learning that the journalist's body was dissolved with chemicals. "Are these killers and those behind it human beings?" she tweeted.
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Jamal Khashoggi: A mysterious disappearance and death
Turkey shares audio recordings
November 10: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reveals that officials from Saudi Arabia, the US, Germany, France and Britain have listened to audio recordings related to the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
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Jamal Khashoggi: A mysterious disappearance and death
Symbolic funeral prayers
November 16: A symbolic funeral prayer for Khashoggi is held in the courtyard of the Fatih Mosque in Istanbul. Yasin Aktay, advisor to President Erdogan, speaks at the service.
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Jamal Khashoggi: A mysterious disappearance and death
Saudi-owned villas searched
November 26: Turkish forensic police bring the investigation to the Turkish province of Yalova, where sniffer dogs and drones search two Saudi-owned villas in the village Samanli.
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Jamal Khashoggi: A mysterious disappearance and death
100 days since killing
January 10: Amnesty International Turkey members demonstrate outside the Saudi Arabia Consulate in Istanbul, marking 100 day since the killing of Jamal Khashoggi. One woman holds up a street sign which reads "Jamal Khashoggi Street". The organization has called for an international investigation into the case.
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Jamal Khashoggi: A mysterious disappearance and death
Saudi murder trial begins
January 3: The Khashoggi trial begins in Saudi Arabia, where state prosecutors say they will seek the death sentence for five of the eleven suspects. A request for the gathered evidence has been send to Turkish authorities. A date for the second hearing has not yet been set.
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Jamal Khashoggi: A mysterious disappearance and death
UN inquiry team in Turkey
January 28: Agnes Callamard, who is leading the UN probe into the handling of the Khashoggi case, arrives in Ankara where she meets with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu. The human rights expect will stay in the country for the rest of the week to speak with prosecutors and others involved in the case.
Author: Ashutosh Pandey
A mysterious death: Khashoggi went missing on October 2 after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to pick up marriage documents. Turkey says it had a recording that proves the journalist was murdered and dismembered within the consulate. Saudi Arabia initially said Khashoggi had left the consulate after the appointment. But on Saturday, it admitted Khashoggi had been killed in a fistfight during a "rogue operation," and that it was investigating the murder.
World skeptical over Saudi claims: German Chancellor Angela Merkel has dismissed the Saudi government's explanation as "insufficient" and ordered a temporary pause in arms sales to the country. US President Donald Trump and French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian have also voiced scepticism about the explanation. The director of the US Central Intelligence Agency, Gina Haspel, has arrived in Turkey to help investigate Khashoggi's death, according to Reuters news agency.
'Cold blooded' murder: Khashoggi's Washington Post editor, Karen Attiah, told DW that the journalist suffered "unbearable oppression" from the Saudi authorities. She said the global response "sends a message to journalists around the world about whether regimes can get away with murdering them in cold blood."
Who was Khashoggi? The 59-year-old journalist had worked as a government adviser in Saudi Arabia. In recent years, he became a prominent critic of the Saudi government and the kingdom's 33-year-old crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman. He lived in the United States prior to his death and wrote a monthly column for The Washington Post.
amp/rt (dpa, AFP)
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