Shafaq News/ Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman will ask Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan not to mention Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi's murder again, during Erdogan’s visit to Saudi Arabia in February, the Wall Street Journal said on Monday.
The Saudi crown prince will also prevail upon Turkish media to stop bringing up the topic, it said, citing unidentified regional sources.
Erdogan is set to pay a visit to Saudi Arabia in February, on the invitation of the Crown Prince bin Salman. This will be Erdogan’s first visit to the Kingdom since the murder of dissident journalist Khashoggi in 2018 in Istanbul, which had deteriorated the relations between Ankara and Riyadh.
A U.S.-based critic of bin Salman, Khashoggi is believed to be killed by Saudi government operatives after he walked into the Kingdom's consulate in Istanbul, a claim Riyadh denies.
Khashoggi’s remains have never been found, and Ankara has blamed Saudi officials for the murder, stopping short of naming the crown prince.
The claim prompted Saudi business groups including the Riyadh Chamber of Commerce and Industry to call for a boycott on Turkish products.
The meeting next month would offer a chance to put behind the problems that have poisoned the relations between the two countries, most importantly the killing and dismemberment of Khashoggi, according to WSJ.
Erdogan and bin Salman have been looking to meet for several weeks, according to the sources familiar with the efforts, it said.
While the Crown Prince’s goal would be to seek a silence promise from Erdogan over Khashoggi’s death, for Erdogan, the calculus may be more about money than geopolitics, as the Turkish president has been looking for economic lifelines due to his country’s current economic crisis.
