Turkey official says country will ‘never allow a cover-up’ of Khashoggi death

A top Turkish official vowed Saturday that Turkey will “never allow a cover-up” over the killing of Saudi journalist and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul.

Numan Kurtulmus, the deputy head of the ruling Justice and Development Party, said Saturday that Turkey will release its evidence regarding Khashoggi’s murder, The Associated Press reported.

Kurtulmus said the “conclusive result” of the investigation is now close, coming more than two weeks after Khashoggi was last seen entering the Saudi consulate.

{mosads}The Saudi kingdom originally denied any knowledge of the journalist’s whereabouts before acknowledging in a statement late Friday that Khashoggi died on Oct. 2 after entering its facility in Turkey and being involved in a “brawl.”

Eighteen Saudi suspects are now in custody and are being investigated in connection with Khashoggi’s death.

Pro-government media in Turkey claim that Saudi officials ordered the dissident journalist be killed.

Kurtulmus said “it’s not possible for the Saudi administration to wiggle itself out of this crime if it’s confirmed.”

President Trump said Friday night that Saudi Arabia’s explanation for Khashoggi’s death was credible, adding that the arrest of 18 Saudi nationals was “a good first step.”

The president said at a meeting with defense contractors that he does not want to cancel or suspend billions of dollars in Saudi arms purchases as a punishment on the country, but would instead prefer “some form of sanction.”

“I would prefer that we don’t use as retribution cancelling $110 billion worth of work,” he said.