Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has revealed part of the audio recording of Jamal Khashoggi's murder, saying one of the killers of the Saudi dissident journalist is heard saying, “I know how to cut."
In a speech in Istanbul on Friday, Erdogan stressed that Ankara has shared the recording with Washington, Berlin, Paris and Ottawa.
“The United States, Germany, France, Canada, we made them all listen ... The man clearly says ‘I know how to cut’. This man is a soldier. These are all in the audio recordings,” he said.
Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and prominent critic of the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was killed after entering the kingdom's consulate in Istanbul on October 2.
After weeks of denials of any involvement, the Riyadh regime eventually acknowledged the “premeditated” murder, but has vehemently sought to distance the heir to the throne from the case.
Istanbul’s chief prosecutor said the journalist had been suffocated inside the consulate, before his body was dismembered and disposed of.
A CIA assessment concluded that it was probably bin Salman who had ordered Khashoggi’s assassination. Additionally, the US Senate unanimously adopted a resolution that assigned responsibility to the Saudi crown prince for the killing.
Elsewhere in his speech, Erdogan said the audio recording of the murder shows that people close to bin Salman were involved in the killing, adding, “The perpetrators are clear to me.”
He also renewed his criticism of Riyadh for offering various contradictory explanations over the incident.
“The prince says Jamal Khashoggi left the consulate. Is Jamal Khashoggi a kid? His fiancee is waiting outside,” he said. “They think the world is dumb. This nation isn’t dumb and it knows how to hold people accountable.”
Erdogan further complained that Saudi Public Prosecutor Saud al-Mu'jab had provided Turkey with no new information regarding Khashoggi's death during his recent visit to Istanbul.
“Saudi Arabia wanted to take away [the evidence of the murder], but sorry, it is too much. You can listen to them, you can see them, but you cannot take them away. Should we give it away so that you can destroy them?” Erdogan asked.
"We followed the US Senate yesterday, and it will not stop at that. It will continue and develop, because we have given the Americans and their intelligence apparatus all the information," he said.
Bin Salman responsible for murder
Jakob Musick, host of the Voice of the Revolution radio, told Press TV that bin Salman is responsible for Khashoggi's death as he is the "absolute leader" of the kingdom.
"Saudi Arabia is an authoritarian state. It is one of the few absolute monarchies in the world and if you study political science you know that those types of governments/monarchies operate from top down and so even if Mohammed bin Salman did not know of this in that society he has responsibility for it because he is the absolute leader of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia," he said.
