Khashoggi: Turkey demands to know where murdered journalist's body is

'This case cannot be covered up, and we are expecting close cooperation from Saudi authorities'

Turkey wants Saudi authorities to tell them where Jamal Khashoggi’s body is, after authorities in Riyadh admitted the dissident journalist was murdered in a premeditated attack at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

“We are looking for answers to the question of where the body is,” Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gul told reporters on Thursday.

“This case cannot be covered up, and we are expecting close cooperation from Saudi authorities on the investigation we are conducting transparently and meticulously.”

He added: “We want the Saudi authorities to enter into close cooperation with us. They have to support [the probe] so that the entire incident is brought to light.”

Under mounting international pressure, Saudi Arabia has changed its narrative on Mr Khashoggi’s death several times.

The Saudi government initially denied Khashoggi had been killed, but then said he died in an unplanned “rogue operation”. Last week, the kingdom’s public prosecutor said the attack was premeditated.

Turkey said on Wednesday that Khashoggi was strangled as soon as he entered the consulate on 2 October and his body was then dismembered and disposed of.

This version of events conflicts with a report by pro-government newspaper Yeni Safak published last month, which cited what it described as an audio recording of Mr Khashoggi being tortured before being killed.

Turkey is seeking the extradition of 18 suspects who have been detained in Saudi Arabia so that they can be put on trial in Turkey.

They include 15 members of an alleged “hit squad” that Turkey says was sent to Istanbul to kill the 59-year-old journalist, who lived in exile in the United States and had written critically of Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Some of those implicated in the killing are close to the prince whose condemnation of the killing has failed to ease suspicions that he was involved.