Khashoggi affair ‘won’t drive wedge’ btwn Saudi, Turkey

By Afra Aksoy

RIYADH (AA) – Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman said Wednesday that the ongoing furor over the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi would not “drive a wedge” between his country and Turkey.

“I want to send them a message: They will not be able to do that [i.e., harm Saudi-Turkish relations] as long as there is a king called King Salman bin Abdulaziz and a crown prince called Mohamed bin Salman in Saudi Arabia and a president in Turkey named [Recep Tayyip] Erdogan,” the crown prince declared.

Bin Salman's remarks, which he made on the second day of a high-profile investment conference now underway in Riyadh, came one day after Erdogan revealed details of Khashoggi’s Oct. 2 murder in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

The crown prince went on to assert that both countries were cooperating with one another with a view to ascertaining the truth behind the journalist’s death.

The Turkish and Saudi governments, he added, were both keen to see those responsible for the crime held to account.

A columnist for The Washington Post, Khashoggi went missing after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2.

After several days of denying any knowledge of his whereabouts, Saudi Arabia last week appeared to admit that Khashoggi had died inside the consulate.

Since then, King Salman has sacked his deputy intelligence chief -- and a top aide -- while ordering the arrest of 18 people suspected of involvement in Khashoggi’s murder.