Turkey president and Saudi king hold discussion about Khashoggi’s disappearance
Ankara, Oct 15: Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Saudi King Salman discussed the case of missing journalist Jamal Khashoggi in their first telephone talks on the controversy, both sides said.
Turkey president Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Erdogan and Salman discussed "the issue of shedding light on the case of Jamal Khashoggi" and also emphasised the "importance of creating a joint working group within the framework of the investigation," said a Turkish presidential source, who asked not to be named.
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Saudi king Salman bin Abdul Aziz
Ankara had previously said a working group would be set up in line with a Saudi proposal. But few details have emerged over how this will function. The Saudi foreign ministry said Salman affirmed his country's "solid" relations with Turkey in the phone call with Erdogan.
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The king phoned Erdogan "to thank the president for welcoming the kingdom's proposal to form a joint working group to discuss the disappearance of Saudi citizen Jamal Khashoggi".
Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi
Salman emphasised the importance of the Turkey-Saudi relationship and said no-one should be able to "undermine the strength of this relationship", it added.
Khashoggi has been missing since he stepped inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2. Turkish officials say they believe he was killed inside the consulate and macabre claims have been published in Turkish media.
Also Read |Turkey, US want Saudi to explain whereabouts of missing journalist
But Saudi Arabia strongly rejects he was killed inside the mission. Erdogan, meanwhile, has behaved cautiously in the controversy, expressing concern but stopping short of directly accusing Riyadh.
US President Donald Trump
Trump said Saudi Arabia has denied of anything to do with disappearance of Khashoggi and that they would be "severely punished" if he was found to be killed by them.
PTI