Campaign to Rename Street of Saudi Consulate in İstanbul ‘Jamal Khashoggi Street’

Amnesty International Turkey has launched a campaign and demanded that the street in front of the Consulate General of Saudi Arabia in İstanbul, where journalist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered, be renamed after the deceased journalist.

İstanbul

* Photo: Ahmet Bolat - İstanbul / AA

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Amnesty International Turkey has launched an online petition and made a call to the authorities to change the name of the street outside the Consulate General of Saudi Arabia in İstanbul, where Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi was killed, into "Jamal Khashoggi Street."

In the petition addressed to the Beşiktaş Municipality, a request has been made to rename the street after the deceased journalist "so that this brutal attack against journalist Jamal Khashoggi could remain in the collective memory and the justice could be served for Khashoggi."

"Khashoggi murder should not end in impunity"

Making a statement about the campaign, Amnesty International's Turkey Strategy and Research Manager Andrew Gardner has said,

"The murder of Jamal Khashoggi should not end in impunity, it should be effectively investigated. With Khashoggi murder, the whole world has seen how the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has exerted pressure on freedom of expression and how merciless it could get.

"We demand from the Beşiktaş Municipality and İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality that they give the name of Jamal Khashoggi to the street so that this atrocity will not be forgotten or veiled."

On the 100th day of Jamal Khashoggi's murder on January 10, 2019, Amnesty International Turkey also made a statement for the press in front of the Consulate General of Saudi Arabia in İstanbul and symbolically changed the name of Akasyalı Street, where the Consulate General of Saudi Arabia is located, to "Jamal Khashoggi Street."

What happened?

Journalist Khashoggi was disappeared after entering the Consulate General of Saudi Arabia in Beşiktaş, İstanbul on October 2, 2018. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia officially confirmed on October 20 that the journalist was killed inside the consulate.

The İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office released a press statement on October 31, giving the following information:

"Jamal Khashoggi went to the Consulate General of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for paperwork related to his marriage on October 2, 2018. As soon as he entered the consulate building, in a premeditated murder, he was suffocated to death and his body was dismembered and destroyed."

About Jamal Khashoggi

Journalist and writer Jamal Khashoggi was known for his opposing views about the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman and he was writing at the Washington Post about this issue.

After he expressed his criticisms about the reforms introduced by bin Salman and drew reactions, he left Saudi Arabia in 2017 and moved to the US.

He worked as Director General and Editor-in-Chief at the Al Arab Media Group. He was also a media consultant at the Saudi Arabia Embassy in England.

(AS/SD)