As reported by Deutsche Welle’s English-language edition, Reuters, and, in French, by Le Monde
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President Erdogan addressed Turkey’s Parliament this morning regarding the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.
- There were no tapes or gruesome photos. Instead, Erdogan gave a timeline of events leading to an undeniable conclusion. Khashoggi’s murder was a premeditated political assassination.
- Saudi officials planned Khashoggi's murder several days in advance.
- A Saudi team of 15 men arrived in Istanbul and began preparing the day before Khashoggi was killed.
- They disconnected the hard drive that controls the video surveillance cameras inside the Saudi embassy and scouted out the Belgrad Forest, a wooded area outside Istanbul where Khashoggi’s remains may have been dumped.
- The15 Saudis were seen entering the consulate on the day of Khashoggi's murder.
- The Khashoggi-lookalike who was seen in Istanbul boarded a plane and returned to Riyadh still wearing Khashoggi’s clothes.
- The 18 people arrested in Saudi Arabia for the murder match the 15 identified by Turkish intelligence, plus the Saudi consul general and two other employees of the embassy in Istanbul.
- A Saudi official told the Turkish authorities that the body, which has not been found, was turned over to a “local co-conspirator” who remains unidentified.
- No one should have the faintest idea that the matter will be covered up.
- Throughout his speech, Erdogan never mentioned Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Instead, he referred several times to King Salman bin Abdulaziz who is Saudi Arabia’s official ruler.
- “I do not doubt the sincerity of King Salman bin Abdulaziz. However, since this is a political murder, there must be an impartial investigation as required by international law, Islamic law, and Turkish law.”
- The Vienna Convention on diplomatic immunity cannot protect the suspects from being tried in Turkey instead of Saudi Arabia.