Walls closing in on bin Salman: Turkish party leader

by Muhammet Emin Avundukluoglu

ANKARA

Avenues of escape for Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman are disappearing after last month’s killing of a journalist at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, said a Turkish opposition party leader on Tuesday.

"The circle is tightening around the crown prince, paths to escape and salvation are closed," said Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahceli, accusing bin Salman of responsibility for the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

"What is the difference between the Saudi administration and the mentality of Osama bin Ladin?" he asked in a speech to his party's parliamentary group, referring to the late al-Qaeda terrorist leader.

"What separates this country from al-Qaeda?" he added.

Bahceli also said that the culprits in the Khashoggi killing should be tried in Turkey, or if not there, “in an international trial after an international investigation."

Khashoggi, a columnist for The Washington Post, went missing after entering the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2.

After weeks of saying he had left the consulate alive, the Saudi administration admitted he was killed there, claiming it was the work of a rogue exfiltration team.