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'Turkey withholding Khashoggi murder details for own political gains'

Wednesday, 31 October 2018 9:08 AM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 31 October 2018 9:20 AM ]

A man settles posters picturing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi outside the Saudi Arabia consulate in Istanbul, on October 25, 2018 during a demonstration. (Photo by AFP)

The controversy surrounding the murder of Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi is only a major political game, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is refusing to share the details in the case for his own political gains, says an analyst.

“You have to understand that Erdogan is an opportunist. He is going to milk this for everything it possibly is worth and probably more and that is why he is keeping it close to his chest right now as all the investigations are unfolding. He is ratcheting up the pressure on Saudi Arabia to come out clean but he is not releasing this because he knows he can actually get a lot more out of this … Erdogan is not letting the heat go down until he gets what he wants and so this is a big political game that is being played right now in front of us … and until this investigation doesn’t open up to the international arena, it is still going to be a guessing game for a long time,” Riaz Karim, director of Veritas Center for Strategic Studies told Press TV in an interview on Wednesday.

“I don’t think this time the world is going to let them [the Saudis] go so easily even though the propaganda machine right now is turning the fact that these were rogue elements and the prince [Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman] did not have any idea what was happening. But the question is how can the prince not know what is going on in his embassy? How is that possible?” he exclaimed.

Khashoggi – a US resident, The Washington Post columnist, and a leading critic of bin Salman -- entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2 to obtain a document certifying he had divorced his ex-wife, but he did not leave the building.

Saudi officials originally insisted that Khashoggi had left the diplomatic mission after his paperwork was finished, but they finally admitted several days later that he had in fact been killed inside the building during "an altercation."

Several countries, including European states, Turkey and the US - a major ally of Riyadh - have called for clarifications on the murder.