UPDATE - Turkey: UN official meets gov’t advisor over Khashoggi

UPDATES WITH REMARKS BY AK PARTY ADVISOR

By Tugcenur Yılmaz and Aynur Ekiz

ANKARA (AA) - A UN official investigating the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi Friday met with an advisor to Turkey's ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party in the capital Ankara.

Agnes Callamard, the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, held one-and-a-half-hour meeting with Yasin Aktay over the killing of Khashoggi last fall in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.

Speaking to journalists following the meeting, Aktay said that the probe delegation came to Turkey over its own initiative.

The AK Party advisor added that the delegation is in Turkey to collect all information and data by first hand and share them with the international community.

On the request of the delegation to listen to the auto recordings of the crime, Aktay said it would happen.

“They will listen, but won't obtain the recordings, because this is not an investigation commission,” he explained.

“Turkey repeated that it would provide all kinds of assistance if an investigation commission was established. It is natural that there are limits to sharing information as this is a research commission, not an investigation commission.”

Aktay emphasized that the Khashoggi case would never be covered up, and it was an insult to Turkey and a crime committed against humanity.

Callamard and the accompanying delegation finalized their meetings in Istanbul on Thursday and traveled to Ankara to meet with government officials and intelligence representatives.

The UN official will stay in Turkey until February 2.

The UN Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner last week said that the international investigation would be led under Callamard's authorization and it would "review and evaluate, from a human rights perspective, the circumstances surrounding the killing of Khashoggi."

Callamard is being accompanied by Baroness Helena Kennedy, QC, and Professor Duarte Nuno Vieira from the University of Coimbra, Portugal.

The UN delegation Wednesday carried out examinations around the Saudi Consulate General in Istanbul, then spoke to Irfan Fidan, the chief public prosecutor of the city.

Callamard is going to provide her findings and recommendation on the murder investigation as a report in the UN Human Rights Council session scheduled for June.

- Body of slain journalist still missing

Khashoggi, a contributor to The Washington Post, was killed at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2.

After producing various contradictory explanations, Riyadh acknowledged he was killed inside the consulate building, blaming the act on a botched rendition operation.

Turkey has sought the extradition of the Saudi citizens involved in the killing as well as a fuller accounting of the killing from Riyadh.