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TURKEY-SAUDI-DIPLOMACY
Turkey, Saudi leaders could meet for first time since Khashoggi murder
ANKARA, Nov 23, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
could meet with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on the sidelines of
the G20 summit in Argentina next week, a spokesman said Thursday, amid
tensions over journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s murder.
Such a meeting would be the first face-to-face encounter between Erdogan
and the crown prince since the grisly killing in the Saudi consulate in
Istanbul last month, which has tainted the image of the kingdom’s de facto
ruler.
“There could be” a meeting, Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin
said.
“We’re looking at the programme,” Kalin said, according to state news
agency Anadolu.
Seeking to rally support from Arab allies ahead of the summit, Prince
Mohammed on Thursday embarked on a regional tour starting with the United
Arab Emirates, his first official trip abroad since Khashoggi’s murder tipped
the kingdom into crisis.
The former court insider and Washington Post contributor was killed and
dismembered in what Saudi Arabia said was a “rogue” operation, but CIA
analysis leaked to the US media pointed the finger at Prince Mohammed.
Saudi Arabia has said that 21 people are in custody, with death penalties
sought against five men, but attention remains focused on whether the crown
prince ordered the murder despite the kingdom’s denials.
The European Union on Thursday called for those “really responsible” to be
held to account.
Calling for a “completely transparent and credible investigation”, the EU’s
top diplomat Federica Mogherini said: “For us accountability does not mean
revenge.”
Erdogan has said the order to murder Khashoggi came from “the highest
levels” of the Saudi government but has stopped short of directly blaming
Prince Mohammed.
Erdogan and the crown prince spoke for the first time on the phone on
October 24 about the case, discussing the joint efforts needed to shed light
on the murder.
But Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has criticised Saudi
officials over their lack of cooperation.
– ‘Victory lap’ –
US President Donald Trump on Tuesday glossed over the CIA’s reported
conclusion that the crown prince had authorised the killing, saying
Washington would not slacken its support for the kingdom.
Trump has admitted that the prince may have been behind the murder.
Prince Mohammed, meanwhile, set off on a visit to a “number of brotherly”
Arab states at the request of his father, King Salman, the royal court said
in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency, without naming the
countries.
Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed welcomed him on his first stop
in the UAE, a close ally that is part of a Saudi-led coalition battling Iran-
aligned Huthi rebels in Yemen, according to the Emirati state news agency
WAM.
The prince is also set to travel to the Tunisian capital on Tuesday, a
presidential source in Tunis told AFP.
“It’s hard not to see this regional tour as a victory lap” after winning
Trump’s support, said Kristin Diwan, of the Arab Gulf States Institute in
Washington.
“Travelling to friendly countries effectively compels them to demonstrate
their support for the crown prince, and rallies regional support ahead of the
G20,” Diwan told AFP.
– ‘Red line’ –
The Saudi prosecutor last week absolved the crown prince of blame for the
murder of Khashoggi, a US resident since 2017 who had written critical
articles and once compared Prince Mohammed to Russian President Vladimir
Putin.
A spokesman for the Saudi public prosecutor said Khashoggi was drugged and
his body dismembered, but Turkish officials say he was strangled. The
whereabouts of the body remain unknown.
Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir on Wednesday said criticism of the
crown prince is a “red line”, and that calls for him to be held accountable
for the murder would not be tolerated.
“In Saudi Arabia our leadership is a red line. The custodian of the two
holy mosques (King Salman) and the crown prince are a red line,” Jubeir told
the BBC.
“And we will not tolerate any discussion of anything that is disparaging
towards our monarch or our crown prince.”
But keeping up the international pressure on Riyadh, Denmark on Thursday
suspended arms sales to Saudi Arabia over the murder, the second country to
do so after Germany.
“I hope that the Danish decision can create additional momentum,” Denmark’s
Foreign Minister Anders Samuelsen said.
Separately, the French foreign ministry said Thursday that it would impose
sanctions against 18 Saudi citizens over Khashoggi’s murder.
“These measures… aim to prohibit these individuals from entering national
territory and the entire Schengen area” of Europe, the ministry said in a
statement.
BSS/AFP/MRI/0820 hrs