Le Drian says not aware France has Khashoggi tapes, contradicts Erdogan

Reuters , Monday 12 Nov 2018

French Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian (Reuters)
French Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian (Reuters)

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian on Monday said that France was not in possession of recordings related to the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi as far as he was aware, contradicting remarks by Turkey’s president.

Khashoggi was killed in Saudi Arabia’s Istanbul consulate last month in a hit which President Tayyip Erdogan says was ordered at the “highest levels” of the Saudi government.

Erdogan on Saturday said that France, Germany and Britain had been handed the tapes, but in an interview on France 2, Le Drian said this was not the case, as far as he knew.

Asked if that meant Erdogan was lying, Le Drian said: “it means that he has a political game to play in these circumstances.”

U.S. President Donald Trump and Erdogan have discussed how to respond to the killing last month of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a White House official said on Sunday.

*This story was edited by Ahram Online.

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