RIYADH/ISTANBUL - Saudi Arabia's Crown
Prince Mohammed bin Salman promised on Wednesday that the
killers of Jamal Khashoggi would be brought to justice, in his
first public comments since the journalist's murder sparked
international condemnation.
Prince Mohammed told a major investment conference in Riyadh
that Saudi Arabia and Turkey would work together "to reach
results" on a joint investigation into the killing.
"The incident that happened is very painful, for all
Saudis... The incident is not justifiable," the crown prince
said on a discussion panel. "Justice in the end will appear."
He described cooperation between Riyadh and Ankara as
"special" despite fierce criticism from Turkish President Tayyip
Erdogan and his aides.
Hours earlier U.S. President Donald Trump, in his toughest
comments yet, told the Wall Street Journal that the crown prince
bore ultimate responsibility for the operation that led to the
Saudi journalist's killing.
Trump said he wanted to believe Prince Mohammed when he said
that lower level officials were to blame for the Oct. 2 killing
at the Saudi mission.
But he suggested responsibility lay higher up: "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."
His comments heaped pressure on his close ally amid a global
outcry over the journalist's death, and came hours before Prince
Mohammed's appearance at the Saudi investment conference.
A number of high profile business and political figures have
pulled out of the conference over the death of the journalist, a
prominent critic of Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler.
Erdogan spoke to Prince Mohammed on Wednesday and the two
discussed the steps needed to bring to light all aspects of the
killing of Khashoggi, a presidential source said.
TURKISH CRITICISM
An adviser to Turkey's president said Prince Mohammed had
"blood on his hands" over Khashoggi, the bluntest language yet
from someone linked to Erdogan.
Saudi authorities did not immediately respond to a request
for comment about the remarks by Trump and the Erdogan adviser
but Prince Mohammed painted a different picture of relations
with Turkey.
"There are now those who are trying to take advantage of the
painful situation to create divisions between the kingdom and
Turkey," he said.
"I want to send them a message that they cannot do this as
long as King Salman is here, and the Crown Prince Mohammed bin
Salman is in Saudi Arabia and the head of Turkey, whose name is
Erdogan ... this division won’t happen."
Riyadh has blamed a "rogue operation" for the death of the
prominent Saudi journalist and said the crown prince had no
knowledge of the killing.
The death of Khashoggi, a U.S. resident and Washington Post
columnist, has sparked global outrage and threatened relations
between Riyadh and Washington as well as other Western nations.
For Saudi Arabia’s allies, the burning question has been
whether they believe that Prince Mohammed, who has painted
himself as a reformer, has any culpability in the killing, a
possibility raised by several U.S. lawmakers.