Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir
Turkey is a friendly country to Saudi Arabia, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said on Saturday.
"Turkey is a friendly country and we have good trade and investment relations with it," al-Jubeir said in reply to a question during the Manama Dialogue security conference in Bahrain.
The remarks came amid a Turkish investigation into the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. Khashoggi, a columnist for The Washington Post, had gone missing since entering the consulate on Oct. 2.
Claims are circulating that the body of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was killed at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2, could possibly have been dumped in the well at the residence of the Saudi consul-general.Police say Khashoggi was killed and dismembered within two hours, and taken from the Saudi consulate in suitcases and plastic bags. His DNA was found in a Vito minibus that traveled from the consulate to the consul-general’s residence, a distance of 300 meters.Investigators believe that there is a high chance Khashoggi’s remains are still in Istanbul. Allegations that the 15-man hit squad panicked once they found out that Khashoggi’s fiancée, Hatice Cengiz, was waiting for the Saudi journalist outside the consulate have surfaced.Saudi van with 3 suitcases leaves Istanbul consulateA 15-man hit team, many of them Saudi intelligence operatives, flew into Istanbul hours before Khashoggi’s death and entered the consulate on Oct. 2 while the journalist was inside.Khashoggi was a U.S. resident who wrote columns for the Washington Post and he was critical of the Saudi government, calling for reforms.Khashoggi murdered, dismembered in two hoursSecurity sources believe once Khashoggi entered the Saudi consulate at 13:14 local time, there was a high level of activity inside and outside of the building. A black Vito with the number plate 34 CC 1865 neared the consulate gate at 15:08 local time, and camera footage shows suitcases and black plastic bags being loaded into the vehicle before it traveled to the consul-general’s residence.Washington Post starts Khashoggi truth ad campaignMurdered in the consul-general’s officeOnce Khashoggi entered the consulate, he was allegedly invited to the Consul General Mohammad al-Otaibi’s office, where he was choked to death. His body was dragged to the conference room behind the consul general’s office. Khashoggi’s body was tehn allegedly divided into three pieces, and his head, chest and legs were put into a suitcase. Salah al-Tubaigy, a forensic doctor and reported autopsy expert, was the one who dismembered the body. He then proceeded to clean the conference room.Khashoggi remains may be hidden in wellTurkish teams searched the consulate on Oct. 18, and the 12-meter-deep well is now being evaluated as the dumping site of Khashoggi’s body. Turkish security forces were not allowed to search the garden and well in Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul, however, water samples were taken.Khashoggi's son arrives in US after travel ban liftedHatice Cengiz foiled Saudi planNoting that the remains could be protected by waterproof chemicals, the prosecution office demanded that the water in the well be emptied and the bottom searched. It is believed that the presence of Hatice Cengiz foiled the plot to bury the body in Istanbul’s Belgrad Forest when she called the consulate security demanding to know the whereabouts of Jamal.Cengiz called the consulate at 17:30 local time and said that her fiancée had entered but not reemerged. When asked where she was, Cengiz told the consulate worker that she was outside. A Saudi official then emerged and told her all rooms had been searched but Khashoggi was not inside. Following this, the 15-member Saudi squad that had made reservations for five days at two hotels returned to Riyadh.Within the scope of the investigation, the police searched 26 different vehicles as well as the consul-general’s residence. Following a tipoff, police found a diplomatic vehicle belonging to the Saudi consulate in a carpark in Istanbul’s Sultangazi district. A laptop and documents were found in the vehicle which was not on the original search list.Russia’s Putin, Saudi king discuss Khashoggi issueOn the day of the murder, it was found that the security cameras Saudi authorities had claimed were not working were actually switched off one hour before the murder time. The audio recording of the last minutes of Khashoggi’s life is allegedly the hands of Turkey’s national intelligence organization, MİT.Khashoggi body double spotted out and about in IstanbulAs part of the probe launched by the Chief Public Prosecutors' Office in Istanbul, a special security team went through 3,500 hour-long footages from a total of 137 surveillance cameras at 72 points.Moustafa al-Madani, who led the intelligence efforts of the 15-man team in Istanbul, entered the consulate building by the front door four hours earlier together with Saudi's forensic medicine chief Salah al-Tubaiqi. Following the murder, Madani donned Khashoggi’s clothes, eyeglasses and Apple watch and left through the back door of the consulate in an attempt to make it look like the journalist had walked out of the building, although he was wearing different shoes to the ones Khashoggi entered the consulate with. He is seen in Khashoggi's clothing near the city's Blue Mosque in the Sultanahmet district hours after the journalist was seen entering the consulate building.Madani is a government employee who studied at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province, according to a Facebook profile with photographs resembling the suspect identified by Turkish media.US actress rejects funding for film from Saudi princeGermany's EconMin welcomes proposal for joint EU position toward Saudi
Call by Khashoggi’s fiancée caused Saudi hit squad to panic, dump journo’s remains in well
After weeks of denying any knowledge of his whereabouts, Saudi officials last week admitted that Khashoggi had died inside the consulate building.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said 18 suspects arrested in Saudi Arabia over Khashoggi’s killing should be extradited to Turkey to face the trial.
“The Kingdom will hold those involved in the case accountable,” al-Jubeir said in reply to a question about the Turkish request to extradite the suspects for trial.
Commenting on a German decision to stop arms sales to Saudi Arabia over the case, al-Jubeir said Riyadh has stopped buying weapons from Germany for some time, without giving further details.
On Friday evening, German Chancellor Angela Merkel renewed her pledge to stop selling arms to Saudi Arabia until the circumstances surrounding Khashoggi's death were revealed.
Defence Secretary Jim Mattis will stress the U.S. commitment to Middle East security at the weekend, officials said, amid Western concern that any loosening of U.S. ties to Riyadh after Jamal Khashoggi's murder could allow Russia to fill the vacuum.Mattis will give a speech at the annual Manama Dialogue security conference in Bahrain on Saturday on the United States' policy in the Middle East which will be closely watched in capitals around the region.Katie Wheelbarger, the principal deputy assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs, said that Mattis' speech would emphasize that the United States was committed to help allies "re-instill stability in a chaotic region.""So continue to look to the United states as your security partner of choice because you can rely on us and depend on us to be there long term," Wheelbarger told reporters travelling with Mattis.Macron slams calls to halt arms sales to Saudi as populistThere is increasing concern that if Washington abandons the region, countries like Russia will fill the vacuum.Nowhere will the speech be watched more closely then in Riyadh, after Saudi Arabia's public prosecutor said the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the kingdom's Istanbul consulate this month was premeditated.The death of Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and critic of de facto Saudi ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, has sparked global outrage and mushroomed into a crisis for the world's top oil exporter and strategic ally of the West.Merkel says no arms to Saudi Arabia until Khashoggi killing explainedRiyadh is expected to be watching how far, if at all, Mattis goes in censuring the kingdom in his speech.After Saudi King Salman spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday about the killing, the Kremlin said Russia had no reason to doubt the statements of the king and crown prince that the royal family was not involved.Dozens of Western officials, bankers, and executives shunned a big investment conference in Riyadh this week.Khashoggi's fiancee says journalist was 'worried' before entering Saudi consulateRussia sent the head of its Russian sovereign wealth fund RDIF, who said Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund would become a new partner in a joint Russia-China Investment Fund.Saudi Arabia is the lynchpin of a U.S.-backed regional bloc against Iran but the crisis has strained Riyadh's relations with the West.Experts believe that Washington will have to take some measures to make clear to Saudi Arabia that Khashoggi's killing is unacceptable."I think the key here is that if the administration wants to shift the focus back onto Iran the only way to do that is by taking some steps to respond to what the Saudis have done," Dennis Ross, who served as top Middle East adviser to President Barack Obama, said.Austria calls on EU to halt arms sales to Saudi ArabiaRoss said the increased global pressure on Riyadh may also present an opportunity for Washington to push the kingdom to end a 16-month-old dispute between Qatar and four Arab states that analysts say has weakened regional coordination against Iran.Saudi Arabia, the Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt cut off travel and trade ties with Qatar in June 2017, accusing it of backing their arch-rival, Iran, and supporting terrorism. Qatar denies the charges and says the boycott impinges on its sovereignty.The United States has tried, without success, to mediate in the dispute. It is an ally of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council, and Qatar is home to a major U.S. air base."This might not be a bad time for the administration to try to go back in and mediate that dispute, this might be a point where the Saudis will want to be more responsive to us," Ross said. 
Mattis to stress US-Mideast security ties amid Khashoggi strains
French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday dismissed as "demagoguery" the calls by several European countries including Germany to suspend arms sales to Saudi Arabia following the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi."What's the link between arms sales and Mr Khashoggi's murder? I understand the connection with what's happening in Yemen, but there is no link with Mister Khashoggi," Macron told a news conference in Slovakia."That's pure demagoguery to say 'we must stop arms sales'. It's got nothing to do with Mr Khashoggi," he added.Austrian Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl told a German newspaper the European Union should halt arms sales to Saudi Arabia following the killing of Khashoggi, saying it could also help end "the terrible war in Yemen".The comments from Austria, the current president of the EU, came after Germany said it would stop approving weapons exports to Saudi Arabia until Khashoggi's death at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul is cleared up. Merkel says no arms to Saudi Arabia until Khashoggi killing explainedAustria calls on EU to halt arms sales to Saudi Arabia
Macron slams calls to halt arms sales to Saudi as populist
The fiancee of slain Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Hatice Cengiz, on Friday said that the journalist was "worried" before he entered the Consulate of Saudi Arabia on Oct. 2.She told Turkish broadcaster Habertürk that Khashoggi had mentioned there could be some issues with him going to the consulate.He assumed Saudi authorities would not interrogate or arrest him in Turkey, although he was concerned tensions would arise when he visited the consulate in Istanbul, added Cengiz.Merkel says no arms to Saudi Arabia until Khashoggi killing explainedShe said that she did not accept U.S. President Donald Trump's invitation to visit the White House because she thought it was aimed at influencing public opinion in his favour.She added that she would not go to the White House until the United States was sincere in its efforts to solve Khashoggi's killing, demanding that all those responsible be tried and punished.Khashoggi had said he was treated well during his first visit to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Sept. 28, his fiancee Cengiz said.Austria calls on EU to halt arms sales to Saudi ArabiaShe added that Khashoggi did not tell her to call anyone in case anything happened to him during his second visit on Oct. 2 but that he had previously told her to contact Yasin Aktay, an adviser of Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan, if he faced any trouble in Turkey. Khashoggi was a U.S. resident who wrote columns for the Washington Post and a critic of the Saudi government, calling for reforms.Turkish officials suspect Saudi security agents killed Khashoggi, 59, inside the consulate and dismembered his body. Turkish sources say authorities have an audio recording purportedly documenting the murder.Saudi Arabia’s public prosecutor said on Thursday the killing of Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist, was premeditated, reversing a previous official statement that it happened accidentally during a tussle in the consulate.Iran MP calls for ‘trying’ Riyadh over Khashoggi murderTurkey takes statements of 38 Saudi Consulate employeesTurkey only allowed to take water sample from well at Saudi consulateSaudi crown prince presides over committee to restructure intel agencyKhashoggi affair ‘won’t drive wedge’ between Saudi, Turkey
Khashoggi's fiancee says journalist was 'worried' before entering Saudi consulate
Meanwhile, al-Jubeir said the Gulf crisis did not impact military coordination among members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), including Qatar.
The GCC "will remain the most important institution for the Gulf States," he said, underlining keenness to spare the GCC the impact of differences among members, particularly in the military side.
A six-nation bloc of oil-rich Arab Gulf states, the GCC is composed of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the UAE, Oman, Bahrain and Qatar.
Last month, Qatar attended a meeting of the GCC chiefs of staff for the first time since the outbreak of the Gulf crisis in mid-2017 to discuss ways to strengthen military and defense cooperation.
In June of last year, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain collectively severed ties with Doha, accusing it of supporting terrorism.
The Saudi-led axis also imposed an air/land/sea embargo on Qatar, which continues to vociferously deny the terror allegations.