'Atrocious' recording of Khashoggi’s killing shocks listeners
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says he's gotten shocked reactions to an audio tape of the Saudi journalist’s final moments as he presses world leaders to hold the kingdom accountable for its alleged role in the killing.
ISTANBUL — A recording made during the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi is so “atrocious” that it shocked a Saudi intelligence officer who heard it, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, continuing his weeks-long campaign to force the Saudi government to accept culpability for the killing.
Erdogan also told journalists traveling with him on his plane that he had told the leaders of the United States, Germany and France during a trip to France to mark the 100th anniversary of the end of World War One that the plot was carried out on “high-level” orders from Riyadh.
Khashoggi, a columnist with the Washington Post, left Saudi Arabia for the United States after Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman took power last year and launched a crackdown on his opponents. A vocal critic of the 33-year-old prince, Khashoggi visited the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2, just 11 days before his 60th birthday, to obtain paperwork in order to marry his Turkish fiancée and was never seen again. His remains are still missing.
Erdogan has said Turkey has a moral obligation to expose those responsible and bring the killers to justice. His efforts have already compelled the kingdom to acknowledge that Khashoggi was killed in a preplanned attack and arrest 18 suspects, including 15 people Ankara said traveled to Turkey to carry out the assassination.
