Turkish leader appears to tread carefully when it comes to revealing evidence but clearly wants answers

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had billed his speech in the Turkish parliament as the moment that the “naked truth” would come out over the death of Jamal Khashoggi. Instead, the circumstances remain partially clothed.

Turkey’s president offered little in the way of new detail on the investigation into the death of the Washington Post journalist and Saudi regime critic, and excerpts from a much-discussed audio of the moment of the killing remained under wraps on Tuesday.

It appears that Turkey, aware of diplomatic protocol and the supposedly sovereign, immune territory of a national embassy, is nervous of directly citing any evidence gathered by the illegal wiretapping of the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, where Khoshaggi was last seen on 2 October.

Timeline Jamal Khashoggi's death: a Saudi version of events Show Hide

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman tells Bloomberg he understands Khashoggi left the consulate after “a few minutes or one hour”. Turkish authorities are welcome to search the diplomatic mission because “we have nothing to hide”, he says. The Saudi consulate in Istanbul tweets that is following up on reports of Khashoggi’s disappearance “after he left the building”. Saudi ambassador Walid bin Abdul Karim El Khereiji denies any knowledge of Khashoggi’s whereabouts, Turkish media says. Riyadh sends investigators to cooperate with Turkey. Consul general Mohammed al-Otaibi tells Reuters all talk of kidnapping is baseless. Otaibi gives Reuters a tour of the consulate. Around midnight, Turkish officials say Khashoggi was killed there. A Saudi statement describes the Turkish allegations as baseless. US ambassador Prince Khaled bin Salman tells Axios the kingdom had nothing to do with the case. Prince Khalid describes allegations against the kingdom as “malicious leaks and grim rumours”. Turkey and Saudi Arabia form a joint working group. Saudi Arabia’s interior minister describes claims in the media that there were “orders to kill [Khashoggi]” as “lies and baseless allegations”. Later, Turkish officials leak details and say he was dismembered with a bone saw. Donald Trump tweets that he had spoken with King Salman, who “denies any knowledge of whatever may have happened”. Saudi-owned al Arabiya TV says 15 men identified by Turkish media on 10 October as part of a hit squad were misidentified “tourists”. Turkish investigators are allowed to search the consulate building. Trump speaks with Mohammed bin Salman, then tweets that the crown prince “totally denied” any knowledge of what happened and Riyadh was launching a thorough investigation. The US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, says Saudi Arabia has made a “serious commitment” to hold anyone responsible accountable. Saudi Arabia’s public prosecutor says investigations show a fistfight led to Khashoggi’s death. Eighteen people have been arrested and two officials close to bin Salman fired. A Saudi official tells Reuters 15 officials travelled to Istanbul to meet Khashoggi, who had expressed interest in returning home. They threatened to kidnap him; Khashoggi resisted, and was accidentally choked to death during attempts to stop him shouting. An official dressed in Khashoggi’s clothes to make it appear as if he had left the consulate. The body was given to a “local collaborator” who disposed of it. The team then lied to Riyadh to cover up the fact Khashoggi had died.

Evidence has instead been deployed via a series of leaks to pro-government media, including the latest claim that Saud al-Qahtani, a top aide to the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, was on Skype giving orders to the alleged Saudi hit squad at the Istanbul consulate on the day of Khashoggi’s death.

In public Erdoğan cannot be seen to be relishing Saudi Arabia’s discomfort. The Turks are conducting an incredibly complex investigation that has political and diplomatic ramifications that could last for years. So far Erdoğan, seeking to cast himself as leader of the Islamic world, has trodden carefully.

Jamal Khashoggi: Erdoğan rejects Saudi account of killing Read more

In the speech to members of his AK party on Tuesday, he pointedly said he would only cite evidence about which he was certain, and the tone was not as bloodcurdling as that often mustered by Erdoğan at party rallies.

But the list of questions posed by Erdoğan, such as the whereabouts of Khashoggi’s body and the identity of an alleged local cooperator who dumped it, was not designed for rhetorical effect. They are the exact questions the Turkish president expects King Salman to ask of his son, the crown prince. Similar questions are being asked in western capitals.

It was revealing that Erdoğan stressed his belief that King Salman was sincere and cooperating with the inquiry, but made no such reference to Bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader.

Indeed the speech, read carefully, is a charge sheet being prepared to be laid at the feet of Bin Salman. “Intelligence and security institutions have evidence showing the murder was planned … Pinning such a case on a handful of security and intelligence members will not satisfy us or the international community,” Erdoğan said. “From the person who gave the order, to the person who carried it out, they must all be brought to account.”

The aim appears to be to persuade the king that the only way to save Saudi Arabia’s reputation is either by dislodging Bin Salman or at a minimum reining in his powers.

In many eyes he has proved himself to be erratic and autocratic, reluctant to solve problems in Yemen, Qatar and Lebanon that he helped to make more intractable.

It was notable that the UK foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, responded to Erdoğan’s speech by highlighting the Turkish president’s assertion that the killing was premeditated. During a Commons statement, Hunt also stressed that autocracies were less stable, hinting at the kind of political reform the UK would like to emerge from this episode.

Nothing in domestic politics is holding Britain back from pressing this course. The Saudis’ closest friends on Conservative benches, such as Sir Nicholas Soames, deserted Bin Salman, saying the instructions for this terrible crime must have come from the top, an assumption many make but cannot yet prove. The chair of the Commons foreign affairs select committee, Tom Tugendhat, complained that Saudi Arabia had turned from a “consultative monarchy to a unipolar autocracy under the crown prince”.

Although some EU countries are pushing for a ban on arms export sales, the UK government and the White House – the two biggest exporters – appear determined to resist, preferring to press political reform inside the kingdom and EU sanctions against individuals. In the end it is likely to be Erdoğan, and the evidence his police investigators unearth, that will most determine Bin Salman’s fate. Tuesday’s speech may prove to be only the opening salvo.