Khashoggi case. Turkey promises "the whole truth", France calls for "clarifications"

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan promised on Sunday (October 21st) to reveal "the whole truth" about the death of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. At the same time, Paris, London and Berlin felt that there was "an urgent need for clarification".

"We seek justice here, and the whole truth will be revealed, [...], in all truth," said Recep Tayyip Erdogan, about the death of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi at a rally in Istanbul on Sunday. . The Turkish president said he will make a new statement on this issue next week.

At the same time, France, the United Kingdom and Germany issued a joint communiqué to emphasize the need for clarification in this case. "We take note of the statement by the Saudis explaining their preliminary findings , " said the three Western powers. "But there remains an urgent need for clarification on exactly what happened on October 2, beyond the assumptions hitherto evoked by the Saudi inquiry, which must be supported by facts to be considered credible . "

The version of the "fist fight"

After his disappearance on October 2, the Saudi authorities finally admitted Saturday what everyone feared: this Saudi journalist, critic of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and exiled to the United States, was killed in the Saudi Arabian consulate in Turkey. Attorney General Saoud al-Mojeb confirmed his death. "The discussions between him and the people who received him at the consulate led to a fight and a fight with fists, which led to his death," he said, quoted by the agency SPA, without specifying where his body was.

Sign of persistent contradictions, the director of a center of reflection close to the Saudi power, Ali Shihabi, affirmed that Jamal Khashoggi had died suffocated as a result of a "strangulation" . According to the Saudi Ministry of Information, the people who interrogated Jamal Khashoggi, 59 at the time, sought to "hide what happened . "

All these explanations and prevarications did not convince many countries, mainly Westerners, especially since the Saudi authorities had previously said that the journalist had emerged from the consulate. Turkish officials have given another version claiming that Jamal Khashoggi was tortured and murdered by a team of 15 Saudi agents who came specially from Ryad. According to Turkish newspapers, his body was dismembered.