Turkish president demands answers from Saudis over Khashoggi killing

ISTANBUL — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday that his chief prosecutor has asked his Saudi counterpart to reveal who ordered the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.

The killing has sparked a global firestorm, straining Ankara’s already fraught relationship with Riyadh and pressing the Trump administration to defend its Middle Eastern ally, whose leadership is suspected of sending a 15-man hit squad to carry out the killing.

“Our prosecutor asked who sent the group that came here and said that this needed to be looked at,” Erdogan told reporters as he left parliament in Ankara.

Khashoggi, a prominent Saudi journalist and Washington Post contributing columnist, was last seen in grainy surveillance video on Oct. 2, entering Istanbul’s Saudi Consulate to retrieve paperwork for his upcoming marriage.

Turkish officials say he was detained, tortured and dismembered — while his fiancee waited outside.

His remains have not been found.

Saud al-Mojeb, Saudi Arabia’s public prosecutor, met with his Turkish counterpart for the second time Tuesday before visiting the consulate, where the killing is alleged to have taken place, Turkish media reported.

Riyadh has depicted the killing as a rogue act, arresting 18 suspects and condemning Khashoggi’s death. But Western officials have speculated that it was an audacious plan — which involved flying the hit squad to Istanbul on private jets.