Erdogan adviser says Saudi Crown Prince has ‘blood on his hands’ as Turkish police are granted permission to search consulate’s well for Khashoggi’s remains
- Erdogan’s adviser Ilnur Cevik said Saudi’s Crown Prince has ‘blood on his hands’
- He called the case a ‘disgrace that reaches all the way to Crown Prince Salman’
- Comes as police hunting Khashoggi’s remains were granted access to a well in the grounds of the kingdom’s consulate
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An adviser to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said Saudi Arabia’s powerful Crown Prince has ‘blood on his hands’ over the killing of Jamal Khashoggi.
In a newspaper column Ilnur Cevik described the Khashoggi case as a ‘disgrace that reaches all the way to Crown Prince (Mohammed bin) Salman’.
They are the bluntest comments yet from someone linked to Erdogan about Riyadh’s de facto ruler in connection with the journalist’s death on October 2 in Istanbul.
Erdogan himself has suggested Khashoggi’s ‘savage murder’ was pre-planned, while Saudi Arabia claimed he had been killed during a ‘rogue operation’.
It comes as Turkish police searching for the journalist’s remains have been granted permission to search a well in the garden of the Saudi consulate in Istanbul – after previously being refused by Saudi authorities.
Authorities have previously carried out inspections at the consulate and consul general’s residence in Istanbul as part of the investigation.
An adviser to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (pictured) has said Saudi Arabia’s powerful Crown Prince has ‘blood on his hands’ over the killing of Jamal Khashoggi
They are the bluntest comments yet from someone linked to Erdogan about Riyadh’s de facto ruler (pictured, yesterday) in connection with the journalist’s death on October 2 in Istanbul
Authorities have previously carried out inspections at the consulate (pictured) and consul general’s residence in Istanbul as part of the investigation
Yesterday, one of Erdogan’s left-wing rivals, Patriotic Party leader Dogu Perincek, said that some of Khashoggi’s remains had been recovered in a well in the garden of the consul general’s Istanbul home.
As the probe continued today, Erdogan’s adviser Cevik took aim at Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in a newspaper column.
As the de facto ruler of the kingdom, the Crown Prince been widely blamed for the death, which was carried out by a hit squad of senior Saudi intelligence officials. Critics suspect he ordered the high-profile operation or at least knew about it.
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Cevik, who is one of many Erdogan advisers and not a prominent one, wrote in the Yeni Birlik paper: ‘It is a disgrace that reaches all the way to Crown Prince (Mohammed bin) Salman.
‘At least five members of the execution team are (Mohammed bin) Salman’s right hands and are people that wouldn’t act without his knowledge.
‘Even if U.S. President Trump saves (Mohammed bin) Salman, in the eyes of the world he is a questionable person with Khashoggi’s blood on his hands,’ Cevik wrote.
It was not immediately clear whether the views of the column reflected those of Erdogan, who in speeches on Tuesday and Wednesday highlighted the need for all of those responsible – ‘from those who ordered it to those who carried it out’ – to face justice.
Erdogan himself has suggested Khashoggi’s (pictured) ‘savage murder’ was pre-planned, while Saudi Arabia claimed he had been killed during a ‘rogue operation’
Turkish forensic police have been pictured searching the grounds of the Saudi consul general’s house in Istanbul in recent weeks
Saudi suspects in Khashoggi killing to be BANNED from UK, says May as she reveals plan to call King Salman about ‘not credible’ explanation
The suspected murderers of Jamal Khashoggi will be banned from travelling to Britain, Theresa May said today.
The Prime Minister revealed she would speak to King Salman of Saudi Arabia later today to tell him Britain does not find the explanation of the killing ‘credible’.
Home Secretary Sajid Javid will cancel any outstanding visas held by the suspected murderers, Mrs May told the Commons.
The suspected murderers of Jamal Khashoggi will be banned from travelling to Britain, Theresa May said today
Mrs May told MPs at Prime Minister’s Questions: ‘We condemn the killing of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the strongest possible terms and after his disappearance we made clear that Saudi Arabia must co-operate with Turkey and conduct a full and credible investigation.
‘The claim that has been made that Mr Khashoggi died in a fight does not amount to a credible explanation so there does remain an urgent need to establish what has happened in relation to this.’
She added that she would speak to King Salman on Wednesday and Home Secretary Sajid Javid is ‘taking action against all suspects to prevent them entering the UK’.
‘If these individuals currently have visas, those visas will be revoked today,’ she told MPs.
Mrs May confirmed no minister or official was in Saudi Arabia today for a major trade conference. Trade Secretary Liam Fox cancelled plans to attend last week.
Saudi authorities did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment about the remarks.
Riyadh has blamed a ‘rogue operation’ for the death of the prominent Saudi journalist, and said Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had no knowledge of the killing.
Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist, disappeared on October 2 when he visited the consulate to obtain documents for his upcoming marriage. After weeks of denying any knowledge of his whereabouts, Saudi Arabia said Khashoggi was killed in a fistfight in the consulate.
The kingdom’s shifting explanations have met incredulity internationally and stirred deepening criticism from Turkey and the West. U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday Saudi authorities staged the ‘worst cover-up ever’.
‘It is a disgrace that reaches all the way to Crown Prince (Mohammed bin) Salman. At least five members of the execution team are (Mohammed bin) Salman’s right hands and are people that wouldn’t act without his knowledge,’ Ilnur Cevik, an adviser to President Erdogan, wrote in a column in the Yeni Birlik newspaper.
‘Even if U.S. President Trump saves (Mohammed bin) Salman, in the eyes of the world he is a questionable person with Khashoggi’s blood on his hands,’ Cevik wrote.
Cevik is one of many Erdogan advisers and not a prominent one. It was not immediately clear whether the views of the column reflected those of Erdogan, who in speeches on Tuesday and Wednesday highlighted the need for all of those responsible – ‘from those who ordered it to those who carried it out’ – to face justice.
Riyadh has detained 18 people and dismissed five senior government officials as part of an investigation into Khashoggi’s death. One of those fired includes Saud al-Qahtani, a top aide to the crown prince.
The murder of Jamal Khashoggi: Key moments surrounding the writer’s disappearance and death
Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who wrote critically of the kingdom’s policies and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was killed in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. Turkish officials say a 15-men team tortured, killed and dismembered the writer, while Saudi Arabia says he died in a ‘fistfight.’
Here are some key moments in the slaying of the Washington Post columnist:
BEFORE HIS DISAPPEARANCE
September 2017: The Post publishes the first column by Khashoggi in its newspaper, in which the former royal court insider and longtime journalist writes about going into a self-imposed exile in the U.S. over the rise of Prince Mohammed. His following columns criticize the prince and the kingdom’s direction.
September 28, 2018: Over a year after the Post published his first column, Khashoggi visits the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, seeking documents in order to get married. He’s later told to return October 2, his fiancee Hatice Cengiz says. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says a plan or a ‘road map’ to kill Khashoggi was devised in Saudi Arabia during this time.
September 29: Khashoggi travels to London and speaks at a conference.
October 1: Khashoggi returns to Istanbul. At around 4.30pm, a three-person Saudi team arrives in Istanbul on a scheduled flight, checks in to their hotels then visits the consulate, according to Erdogan. The Turkish president says another group of officials from the consulate travel to a forest in Istanbul’s outskirts and to the nearby city of Yalova on a ‘reconnaissance’ trip.
Jamal Khashoggi (right) arriving at the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul on October 2
THE DAY OF HIS DISAPPEARANCE
3.28am, October 2: A private jet arrives at Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport carrying some members of what Turkish media will refer to as a 15-member Saudi ‘assassination squad.’ Other members of the team arrive by two commercial flights in the afternoon. Erdogan says the team includes Saudi security and intelligence officials and a forensics expert. They meet at the Saudi Consulate. One of the first things they do is to dismantle a hard disk connected to the consulate’s camera system, the president says.
11.50am: Khashoggi is called to confirm his appointment at the consulate later that day, Erdogan says.
1.14pm: Surveillance footage later leaked to Turkish media shows Khashoggi walking into the main entrance of the Saudi Consulate. No footage made public ever shows him leaving. His fiancee waits outside, pacing for hours.
3.07pm: Surveillance footage shows vehicles with diplomatic license plates leaving the Saudi Consulate for the consul general’s home some 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) away.
5.50pm: Khashoggi’s fiancee alerts authorities, saying he may have been forcibly detained inside the consulate or that something bad may have happened to him, according to Erdogan.
7pm: A private plane from Saudi Arabia carries six members of the alleged Saudi squad from Istanbul to Cairo, the next day returning to Riyadh.
11pm: Seven members of the alleged Saudi squad leave on another private jet to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, which the next day returns to Riyadh. Two others leave by commercial flights.
Erdogan confirms reports that a ‘body double’ – a man wearing Khashoggi’s clothes, glasses and a beard – leaves the consulate building for Riyadh with another person on a scheduled flight later that day.
CCTV images showed a a private jet alleged to have been used by a group of Saudi men suspected of being involved in Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s death
INITIAL REACTION
October 3: Khashoggi’s fiancee and the Post go public with his disappearance. Saudi Arabia says Khashoggi visited the consulate and exited shortly thereafter. Turkish officials suggest Khashoggi might still be in the consulate. Prince Mohammed tells Bloomberg: ‘We have nothing to hide.’
October 4: Saudi Arabia says on its state-run news agency that the consulate is carrying out ‘follow-up procedures and coordination with the Turkish local authorities to uncover the circumstances of the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi after he left the consulate building.’
October 5: The Post prints a blank column in its newspaper in solidarity with Khashoggi, headlined: ‘A missing voice.’
October 6: The Post, citing anonymous Turkish officials, reports Khashoggi may have been killed in the consulate in a ‘preplanned murder’ by a Saudi team.
October 7: A friend of Khashoggi tells the AP that officials told him the writer was killed at the consulate. The consulate rejects what it calls ‘baseless allegations.’
October 8: Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Turkey is summoned over Khashoggi’s disappearance and alleged killing.
LEAKED FOOTAGE
October 9: Turkey says it will search the Saudi Consulate as a picture of Khashoggi walking into the diplomatic post surfaces.
October 10: Surveillance footage is leaked of Khashoggi and the alleged Saudi squad that killed him. Khashoggi’s fiancee asks President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump for help.
October 11: Turkish media describes Saudi squad as including royal guards, intelligence officers, soldiers and an autopsy expert. Trump calls Khashoggi’s disappearance a ‘bad situation’ and promises to get to the bottom of it.
October 12: Trump again pledges to find out what happened to Khashoggi.
October 13: A pro-government newspaper reports that Turkish officials have an audio recording of Khashoggi’s alleged killing from his Apple Watch, but details in the report come into question.
INTERNATIONAL UPROAR
October 14: Trump says that ‘we’re going to get to the bottom of it, and there will be severe punishment’ if Saudi Arabia is involved. The kingdom responds with a blistering attack against those who threaten it, as the manager of a Saudi-owned satellite news channel suggests the country could retaliate through its oil exports. The Saudi stock exchange plunges as much as 7 percent at one point.
Khashoggi (pictured), went missing after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul
October 15: A Turkish forensics team enters and searches the Saudi Consulate, an extraordinary development as such diplomatic posts are considered sovereign soil. Trump suggests after a call with Saudi King Salman that ‘rogue killers’ could be responsible for Khashoggi’s alleged slaying. Trump says Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will travel to the Mideast over the case. Meanwhile, business leaders say they won’t attend an economic summit in the kingdom that’s the brainchild of Prince Mohammed.
October 16: A high-level Turkish official tells the AP that ‘certain evidence’ was found in the Saudi Consulate proving Khashoggi was killed there. Pompeo arrives for meetings in Saudi Arabia with King Salman and Prince Mohammed. Meanwhile, Trump compares the case to the appointment of now-Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh during his confirmation hearing, saying: ‘Here we go again with you’re guilty until proven innocent.’
October 17: Pompeo meets with Turkey’s president and foreign minister in the Turkish capital, Ankara. Turkish police search the official residence of Saudi Arabia’s consul general in Istanbul and conduct a second sweep of the consulate.
October 18: A leaked surveillance photograph shows a member of Prince Mohammed’s entourage walked into the consulate just before Khashoggi vanished there.
October 20: Saudi Arabia for the first time acknowledges Khashoggi was killed in the consulate, claiming he was slain in a ‘fistfight.’ The claim draws immediate skepticism from the kingdom’s Western allies, particularly in the U.S. Congress.
October 22: A report says a member of Prince Mohammed’s entourage made four calls to the royal’s office around the time Khashoggi was killed. Police search a vehicle belonging to the Saudi consulate parked at an underground garage in Istanbul.
October 23: Erdogan says Saudi officials murdered Khashoggi after plotting his death for days, demanding that Saudi Arabia reveal the identities of all involved.
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