MANAMA (AA) – Turkey is a friendly country to Saudi Arabia, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said on Saturday.
“Turkey is a friendly country and we have good trade and investment relations with it, ” al-Jubeir said in reply to a question during the Manama Dialogue security conference in Bahrain.
The remarks came amid a Turkish investigation into the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. Khashoggi, a columnist for The Washington Post, had gone missing since entering the consulate on Oct. 2.
After weeks of denying any knowledge of his whereabouts, Saudi officials last week admitted that Khashoggi had died inside the consulate building.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said 18 suspects arrested in Saudi Arabia over Khashoggi’s killing should be extradited to Turkey to face the trial.
“The Kingdom will hold those involved in the case accountable,” al-Jubeir said in reply to a question about the Turkish request to extradite the suspects for trial.
Commenting on a German decision to stop arms sales to Saudi Arabia over the case, al-Jubeir said Riyadh has stopped buying weapons from Germany for some time, without giving further details.
On Friday evening, German Chancellor Angela Merkel renewed her pledge to stop selling arms to Saudi Arabia until the circumstances surrounding Khashoggi's death were revealed.
