Khashoggi murder sparked mixed reactions from Europe

By Hasan Esen

LONDON (AA) - The brutal murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in Saudi Consulate in Istanbul has sparked mixed reactions from Europe since it was committed a year ago.

Germany gave the harshest response to the murder of Saudi journalist by blocking previously approved arms sales to Saudi Arabia and it also called other countries to impose an arms embargo.

The move was also followed by Denmark and Finland, as they announced the halt of planned weapons sales to the kingdom.

Germany banned the entrance of Saudi officials linked with the murder to Germany and also extended last month the ban on arms sales to Saudi Arabia until March 2020.

France, Spain and the U.K., on the other hand, continued to sell arms to the kingdom.

The U.K. "strongly" condemned the murder and cancelled the murder suspects' visas, if they had, a move also repeated by France.

In the Netherlands, Queen Maxima's meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during G20 summit sparked harsh reactions from the parliament.

Most of the political parties represented in the parliament defined Dutch government's permission to the queen to meet with bin Salman as "unacceptable".

The EU officials, on the other hand, called for a transparent investigation of the murder repeatedly.

EU parliament also called all its member states to impose an arms embargo against Saudi Arabia; however, there was no concrete step taken.

Khashoggi was killed Oct. 2, 2018 in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. Saudi Arabia initially denied any knowledge of his whereabouts after he went missing but later attempted to blame his death on a team of rogue operatives carrying out a botched rendition operation.

Khashoggi, according to reports by the UN and other independent organizations, was murdered and dismembered, very likely on orders of Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman.

* Writing by Fatih Hafiz Mehmet in Ankara