Turkey Dissatisfied with The Saudi Indictment for Khashoggi's Murder

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"Where is the deceased body of Jamal Khashoggi" asks Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Çavuşoğlu upon the release of the indictment by the Saudi Head Prosecutor for the journalist's murder in the Saudi İstanbul Consulate.

"It is nowhere," responds a "dissatisfied" Çavuşoğlu:"Those who have given the orders, the real perpetrators too should be revealed," he tells journalists. "This process should not be closed that way."

In a press release today the Saudi Head Prosecutor announced that they demanded death penalty for five of the eleven suspects of the murder and those five were indicted for "ordering of and complicity in the journalist's murder."

The press release further stated that "the order for Khashoggi's murder was given by the head of the hit squad and the Apparent Heir Mohammad Bin Salman was not included in the prosecution and the deceased body of Khashoggi was still being searched."

"Overdose drugging and brawling"

Reflecting Saudi Kingdom's official narrative of the murder in the Istanbul consulate "Khashoggi lost his life due to overdose drugging and brawling" told Sheikh Shalan al-Shalan, spokesperson and deputy for Saudi Head Prosecutor in a press conference in capital Riad today.

"Khashoggi's deceased boby was dismembered and smuggled out of the consulate," he added.

According to Saudi spokesperson's statement reported by Turkey's Anatolia Agency (AA) the hit squad was formed under orders by Ahmad al-Assiri, the former deputy head of the Intelligence, and the journalist's murder was ordered by the head of the squad. And another suspect had put the consulate's CCTVs out of order.

Eleven out of the twenty-one suspectes were indicted and sent before the court, al-Shalan told journalists and added: "We have already obtained a dummy-image of the local collaborator to whom Khashoggi's deceased body was delivered.

Çavuşoğlu slams Saudi demands

Shalan al-Shalan, further requested "a positive reponse by Turkey" to their demands for "the delivery of the related evidence and records" to Saudi Arabia.

Turkey's Foreign Minister Çavuşoğlu however, insisted that "those five persons should be tried in the jurisdiction of Turkish Law." (AS/EK)