Turkey officially asks Saudi Arabia to hand over the suspects in Khashoggi's death

Turkey officially asks Saudi Arabia to hand over the suspects in Khashoggi's death

"The Istanbul prosecutor's office has prepared a formal request for the extradition of the 18 suspects detained in Saudi Arabia in connection with the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi," the Justice Ministry said in a statement on Friday.

Riyadh announced days ago that 18 people had been arrested and five senior officials were released from their posts in the investigation.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on the Saudi government to return the suspects to Turkey for trial.

Inspection of the well

In a related context, the Turkish police have not been able to find samples of the DNA of the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the waters of a well located at the residence of the Saudi Consul in Istanbul, one of the two buildings Who were searched as part of the search for the body of the opposition journalist, according to the local newspaper (Harriet).

The Turkish teams were able to enter the consulate for the first time on October 15, 13 days after Khashoggi entered the diplomatic headquarters where he was killed, as Riyadh admitted. Two days later, they were allowed to inspect the residence of the Consul, After about 200 meters.

The police wanted to unload the well, but the Saudi authorities refused to allow entry of personnel, because their names do not exist in the list previously agreed between the two sides.

The teams examined the well using a camera. Water samples were taken and sent to a laboratory. They were examined and eventually found to contain no DNA samples from Khashoggi.


On the other hand, the same patrol reported that all the consulate cars were thoroughly cleaned before allowing the Turkish teams to search them.

Doubts

"I have doubts about the credibility of the US government's handling of the investigation into his murder of the Saudi consulate in Istanbul," said Khadija Genghis, the fiance of the murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

"I do not know to what extent the US government will be honest (about the investigation) or where their actions will come under the influence of the media and public opinion," she said in an interview with Radio Khabar Turk, referring to the invitation she received from US President Donald Trump To the United States, "explaining that it will accept this invitation only if ready to make a sincere contribution to the investigations into the killing of Khashoggi.

Genghis, who is under the protection of the police in Istanbul, was the one who informed the Turkish authorities that her fiance had disappeared when he did not leave the Saudi consulate after entering to finish some paperwork on their marriage.

"The words were very political," said the late journalist's fiancée, "who conveyed the condolences of Trump and told me they were sad," saying that she had received no threat and that no Saudi authority had contacted her.