Erdogan may still pull his punches when revealing Khashoggi 'truth'
Mr Erdogan has promised the "naked truth" but analysts say his words will be framed by Turkey's complex relationship with Riyadh.
Tuesday 23 October 2018 11:13, UK
It has been the kind of leaking by officials that journalists covering the Salisbury nerve agent attack could only have dreamed of.
Turkish officials have shared a slew of details and CCTV about the suspected murder of Jamal Khashoggi with Turkish and US media ever since the Saudi columnist disappeared inside his country's consulate in Istanbul three weeks ago.
The revelations include graphic details of the content of an alleged audio recording that the Turkish authorities claim to have of Mr Khashoggi's death that supposedly confirms he was tortured, killed, had his fingers cut off and was dismembered.
The persistent barrage of leaks - by officials of a country not known for its press freedom - appears deliberately designed and timed to exert maximum pressure on Saudi Arabia in the face of its initial denials that anything untoward happened to Mr Khashoggi, and subsequent claims he died by accident in a fist fight.
That the briefings come from anonymous Turkish officials means President Erdogan has been able to keep a distance for now from whatever investigators have uncovered - including details that allegedly link Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi crown prince, to the crime - while at the same time ensuring the information is made public.
That will change today when Turkey's strongman leader addresses MPs about the Khashoggi case.
He has promised to give the "naked truth" but analysts say his words will be framed within the political context of Ankara's complex relationship with Riyadh.
This could mean punches are pulled by Mr Erdogan when it comes to attributing blame directly to the Saudi leadership depending on whatever conversations have been taking place behind the scenes between the two countries, as well as with the United States, the other key player in this drama because of its close ties with the kingdom.
A spokesman for Mr Erdogan's ruling party yesterday dismissed claims of negotiations between Turkey and Saudi Arabia on the Khashoggi issue, insisting such a thing would be unethical and that exposing the truth was key.
That may be so, but it might be politically more convenient for Mr Erdogan to continue to allow leaks from unnamed Turkish officials to expose the story of Mr Khashoggi's demise than for the allegations to come directly from him.
The latest expose was of CCTV images of an alleged body double entering the consulate as part of a suspected 15-man "hit team" from Saudi Arabia in the hours before Mr Khashoggi arrived and then exiting in the journalist's clothes, sporting a fake beard.
The man is then seen at a famous mosque in Istanbul before disappearing into a public bathroom only to emerge in his original clothes.
The apparently deliberate tactic by Turkish officials of leaking to the media is in stark contrast to the British investigation into the attempted assassination of Sergei and Yulia Skripal in Salisbury last March.
The British government was quick to hold the Kremlin responsible for the attack.
However, specific information on the case was tightly guarded during a six-month period until investigators presented their findings to the public, accusing two suspected members of Russian military intelligence of being the botched assassins.