FALCON POWERS – A Turkish diplomatic source said that his country is seeking an explanation from Saudi Arabia regarding its arrest of a Turkish journalist due to his statements related to the 2018 killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Anadolu Agency and other Turkish media outlets reported that journalist Kutluş Demirbağ was arrested last week in the city of Taif, Saudi Arabia, while covering a match of the Turkish national under-19 team, due to what was said about his statements regarding Khashoggi’s murder. It was not immediately clear what Demirbağ had said and the medium through which he made these statements, as well as his location at the time.
The source said that the Turkish Foreign Ministry was informed of the matter on Monday and immediately demanded information from the Saudi authorities, adding that Ankara is closely following the case and informing Demirbağ’s family of developments.
The same diplomatic source, who requested anonymity for political considerations, said on Wednesday that the Turkish Consul General in Riyadh will visit Demirbağ in custody, but did not go into further details.
The ministry refrained from providing further details.
Relations between Saudi Arabia and Turkey were strained after the killing of Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018, and Ankara at the time accused senior Saudi officials, including Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, of orchestrating his assassination.
However, relations between the two major powers in the Middle East have improved since 2021, after Turkey scaled back its accusations against Saudi Arabia as part of a campaign to mend ties with its rivals, including Saudi Arabia. In 2021, U.S. intelligence concluded that the Saudi crown prince had approved an operation to capture or kill Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist. The Saudi government has denied any involvement of the crown prince in the matter and insisted that Khashoggi’s killing was a heinous crime committed by a rogue group.
