ANKARA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 23rd November, 2018) The reaction of US President Donald Trump to the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi demonstrates that Washington is turning a blind eye to this crime, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Friday.
"Trump said no matter what, they would close their eyes. But money is not everything. We should not forget about human values. Saudi Arabia is an important country for us, but this is a brutal murder. We want to solve it and a serious investigation is underway. We want to conduct it with Saudi Arabia, but they don't share information with us, although our prosecutor shared it with his Saudi counterpart. In this situation, an international investigation might be preferable," Cavusoglu said while aired by CNN Turk.
Earlier this week, Trump admitted that the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman could have known about Khashoggi's murder, but Trump indicated that he would not take new measures against the kingdom. On November 15, the United States sanctioned 17 Saudis who Washington considered of being involved in the killing.
According to the Istanbul's Chief Public Prosecutor's Office October statement, the murder was intentional, the body of the journalist was dismembered and destroyed after he was killed in the consulate general of Saudi Arabia in Istanbul. The Turkish authorities asked Saudi Arabia to extradite the perpetrators of the crime, as well as to provide information on the location of the journalist's body.
Khashoggi went missing after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2. After weeks of denials, the Saudi prosecutors acknowledged that the US-based Washington Post columnist had been killed inside the diplomatic mission. The General Prosecutor's Office of Saudi Arabia stated that 21 people were detained over Khashoggi case. The prosecutor's office demanded the death penalty for five participants, the rest will be punished according to Sharia law.
