CHP leader: Turkey should review ties with Saudi Arabia over Khashoggi case

ANKARA

The main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu on Oct. 9 called on the government to “immediately review its relations with Saudi Arabia” and convey its concerns to the country over the case of the missing Saudi journalist.

“The Saudi diplomats who have immunity should be deported. They should be declared persona non grata,” said Kılıçdaroğlu speaking to his party’s parliamentary group.

He said the whereabouts of the missing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi should be made public.

“How come one talks about democracy and the law of the state if it cannot protect a journalist,“ said Kılıçdaroğlu, noting that his party would pursue the case.

Khashoggi, a columnist for The Washington Post, has been missing since he entered the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2. Turkish officials expressed their concern that the journalist might have been murdered at the consulate. The Istanbul Prosecutor’s Office had launched an investigation into the case.

Meanwhile, Devlet Bahçeli, leader of the opposition Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), also expressed his concerns about Khashoggi.

“We are worried about the fate of Jamal Khashoggi,” Bahçeli told his party’s parliamentary group.

“If there was a crime [in the Khashoggi case], and if the criminals were identified, [Turkey’s government] should do what is necessary,” he said.

“Turkey is not a stage or route for mafia methods or bloody revenge,” said Bahçeli.