Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was joined onstage by two Arab allies as he made his first extensive public remarks about the killing that has sparked widespread condemnation and marred his international standing after Turkish reports said a member of his entourage was involved in the crime.
Many international business leaders pulled out of the Future Investment Initiative, the kingdom’s main economic forum, after the Oct. 2 killing of The Washington Post columnist inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.
But in the forum’s vast and ornate auditorium, thousands of people who did attend rose to their feet to applaud the 33-year-old heir whose strong showing underscored his reputation for being bold and assertive.
Prince Mohammed, who spoke with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan by phone before the forum, addressed the case immediately after taking the stage for a panel discussion, saying the Saudis were cooperating with Turkey on the Khashoggi investigation.
“The situation that took place is very painful to all Saudis, especially because it was a Saudi citizen. And I suspect it is painful to anyone in the whole world,” Prince Mohammed said.
“It is a heinous act that is unjustifiable,” he added, before cautioning anyone who might try “to manipulate the situation” and sow division between Riyadh and Ankara.
“I have a message for them: They will not be able to do that as long as there is a king called Salman bin Abdul-Aziz and a crown prince called Mohammed bin Salman in Saudi, and a president in Turkey called Erdogan,” he said to applause.
Erdogan on Tuesday delivered a sharp rebuttal of Saudi Arabia’s widely criticized account that the dissident writer died accidentally in a brawl, saying Saudi officials had planned the killing for days.
He kept up the pressure Wednesday, saying in Ankara: “We are determined not to allow the murder to be covered up and for those responsible — from the person who gave the order to those who executed it — not to escape justice.”
Erdogan has said that 15 Saudi officials arrived in Istanbul shortly before Khashoggi’s death and that a man, apparently dressed in the writer’s clothes, acted as a possible decoy by walking out of the consulate on the day of the disappearance.
Turkish officials say the 15 men comprised a Saudi hit squad that included a member of Prince Mohammed’s entourage on overseas trips. Saudi Arabia has suggested, without offering evidence, that the team went rogue. It has arrested 18 Saudis and fired five top officials, some of whom worked directly under the crown prince.
Turkish media have published a security camera image showing a vehicle belonging to the Saudi Consulate purportedly scouting a forest in the outskirts of Istanbul before the killing.
The killing of the 59-year-old Khashoggi has created an international firestorm as suspicion mounts that the crown prince had a hand in the killing.
“Well, the prince is running things over there more so at this stage. He’s running things and so if anybody were going to be, it would be him,” President Donald Trump was quoted telling the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday.