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Southeast Europe
October 19, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 13
Pompeo shuttles to Ankara as report details alleged grisly last moments of Khashoggi
bne IntelliNews
Journalist Jamal Khashoggi was placed on the study table of the Saudi consul-general in Istanbul before, while still alive, he was dismembered with a bonesaw by a high-ranking forensic evidence expert from Riyadh who listened to music on earphones as he went about his grisly work, Mid- dle East Eye (MEE) reported a Turkish source as relating on October 16.
Horrendous screams were heard by a witness downstairs at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul
but the screaming stopped when Khashoggi was drugged with an as yet unknown substance, the London-based publication reported its source, who claimed to have heard an audio recording of the Riyadh critic’s last moments, as saying. An ac- count of the sequence of events in the pro-Turkish government daily Yeni Safak claimed that the journalist was beaten by Saudi agents and had his fingers cut off very soon after entering the office of the consul-general.
On October 17, MEE reported that seven of the 15 men suspected of being involved in the al- leged operation to kill Khashoggi — a self-exiled Saudi journalist who went to the consulate on October 2 to attend to paperwork related to his intention to remarry — belong to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s personal secu- rity and protection detail.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo came under fire for his jovial demeanour during his meetings in Riyadh, from where on October 17 he shuttled to Ankara to meet with Turkish Presi-
Mike Pompeo came under fire for the jovial demeanour he displayed during his trip to Saudi Arabia to deal with the grave Khashoggi affair. He is seen here meeting with Saudi King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz at the Royal Court in Riyadh.
dent Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.
The leaks to the media over what evidence Turkey claims to hold in relation to the fate of Khashoggi are almost certainly being directed by senior of- ficials of the Turkish government, which has a tight control over the domestic media. There was an initial flurry of leaks after Khashoggi's disap- pearance, then a lull. In the past two days, that lull has been followed by another round of leaks, which might indicate that Ankara is displeased so far by the approach the Americans and Saudis are taking to settling the affair.
Turkish officials have briefed media that they have both audio and video recordings from the seven minutes in the consulate during which Khashoggi was allegedly murdered in an horrific fashion. Turkey — presently facing economic turmoil and involved in disagreements with both the Saudis and the White House over how to bring the Syria conflict to a conclusion — is now in a good posi- tion to extract concessions from the Americans and their major Middle East ally Saudi Arabia as the three parties work on finding a palatable exit for Riyadh from the scandal. There were reports on October 17 that Ankara has given a copy of the audio recording to the US.
The Saudis have categorically denied that the crown prince or King Salman had any knowledge of an operation to murder Khashoggi — who was resident in Washington after fleeing his homeland and wrote for titles including The Washington Post