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Rabat – Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has, for the first time, acknowledged the existence of recordings that prove the murder of the prominent Saudi journalist, who was killed in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October.
On Saturday, Erdogan announced that Turkey gave the recordings to Saudi Arabia, the US, Germany, France, and the UK.
Since October, Turkish anonymous authorities said that Turkey has evidence of the murder of Khashoggi. The existence of recordings was not officially confirmed until Saturday.
Before leaving Turkey to attend commemorations to mark the 100th anniversary of the end of World War 1 in France, Erdogan said, “We gave the tapes.”
“We gave them to Saudi Arabia, to the United States, Germans, French and British, all of them. They have listened to all the conversations in them. They know,” Erdogan said.
The recordings have pre-conversations before the murder was committed.
Al Jazeera reported that a source said that “traces of acid were found at the Saudi consul-general’s residence” in Istanbul.
Khashoggi went missing on October 2, when he entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. His absence sparked outrage internationally as surveillance cameras have not captured his exit from the consulate.
Nearly two weeks after his absence, Saudi Arabia admitted that the journalist died in a “fistfight” inside the consulate. After several days Saudi Arabia said that Khashoggi’s death was premeditated.
The international community, along with Khashoggi’s two sons, have been calling on Saudi Arabia to reveal the location of Khashoggi’s body.
Khashoggi’s sons recently spoke up in an interview with CNN. During the interview, Salah and Abdullah said they have asked Saudi Arabia to return Khashoggi’s body.
“I really hope that whatever happened wasn’t painful for him, or it was quick. Or he had a peaceful death,” said Abdullah.
Salah said that the only thing Khashoggi’s family wants is to “bury him in Al-Baqi [cemetery] in Medina with the rest of his family.”
Last week, BBC shared exclusive information about the murder. Turkish officials told the news outlet that Saudi Arabia sent a a “toxicologist and a chemical expert” to its consulate in Istanbul to clean up evidence of the murder.
Investigators believe that the journalist was strangled to death and his body dismembered.
