The mystery of what happened to Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s may have been solved.
A member of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan’s staff told a Turkish newspaper that Khashoggi’s body was dissolved in acid after he was killed at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2nd.
Erdogan’s adviser, Yasin Aktay, told the newspaper that’s why the body was cut into pieces.
Since Khashoggi walked into the Saudi consulate to obtain required marriage documents for his planned marriage, Saudi officials have given several different explanations for his death.
“According to the latest information we have, the reason they dismembered his body is to dissolve it easier,” Aktay said in a statement to the Hurriyet Daily News. The information was also reported by BBC News on Friday.
Aktay’s statement supports reporting done by The Washington Post earlier in the week where a Turkish official was quoted as saying they were unable to locate the journalist’s remains but were pursuing different theories. On theory they had been pursuing, the official said, was that Khashoggi’s body may have been dismembered and immersed in acid ― either at the consulate or nearby, possibly in a well.
“Khashoggi’s body was not in need of burying,” a senior Turkish official was quoted as saying.
Several individuals within Turkey’s government have repeatedly maintained that they do not believe Saudi Arabia’s official story concerning what happened to Khashoggi’s body.
After several weeks Saudi officials acknowledged that Kashoggi was indeed killed inside their consulate on October 2nd. However, they have also been putting forth the story that Khashoggi’s assailants took the body and gave it to some unknown third party.
Istanbul’s chief prosecutor, Irfan Fidan, said this week that Khashoggi was immediately strangled when he arrived at the consulate. Earlier Turkish media reports said audio recordings captured Khashoggi being tortured before his death.
Fidan demanded on Wednesday that Saudi officials reveal the location of the body.
Hatice Cengiz, Khashoggi’s fiancee, on Friday pleaded for the remains to be returned for proper burial.
“Even though a month has passed since Jamal’s murder, his body has still not been given to his loved ones,” Cengiz said during a Washington memorial service for her would-be husband. She again called on President Donald Trump to support Turkish officials’ efforts to uncover Khashoggi’s remains.
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