Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan wrote about the killing of Jamal Khashoggi in the Washington Post. AFP
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan wrote about the killing of Jamal Khashoggi in the Washington Post. AFP

Erdogan blames Saudi officials for Khashoggi killing



Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said the order to murder Jamal Khashoggi came from "the highest levels of the Saudi government", blaming the kingdom's authorities directly for the first time since the journalist's murder a month ago.

Mr Erdogan also promised to continue the pursue the killers in an opinion article published on Friday in the Washington Post, to which Khashoggi was a contributor.

However, the Turkish president said he did "not believe for a second" that King Salman was to blame for the death.

"I have no reason to believe that his murder reflected Saudi Arabia’s official policy," Mr Erdogan wrote. "In this sense, it would be wrong to view the Khashoggi slaying as a 'problem' between two countries. Nonetheless, I must add that our friendship with Riyadh, which goes back a long time, doesn’t mean we will turn a blind eye to the premeditated murder that unfolded in front of our very eyes."

Khashoggi was a former insider in Saudi royal circles who went into self-imposed exile in the United States last year. He was killed after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2 for paperwork to marry his Turkish fiance. His body has yet to be recovered.

Saudi Arabia has dismissed six officials and arrested 18 people in connection with the killing, which it said was carried out without the knowledge of the country's leaders. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman denounced the murder as "repulsive".

Saudi chief prosecutor Saud Al Mojeb travelled to Turkey in late October to discuss the investigation, but Mr Erdogan said the Saudi authorities had "refused to answer" questions such as who ordered the assassination, the whereabouts of Khashoggi's body, and the identity of a "local collaborator" alleged to have helped dispose of it.

Saudi Arabia has also rejected Ankara's request to extradite the Saudis being held over the murder and called on a Turkish delegation to visit Saudi Arabia to present evidence.

"The killing of Khashoggi is inexplicable," Mr Erdogan wrote on Friday. "Had this atrocity taken place in the United States or elsewhere, authorities in those countries would have gotten to the bottom of what happened. It would be out of the question for us to act any other way."

The killing also strained Saudi Arabia's ties with Washington and other western allies. On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo described it as a violation of international law, while France said not enough was being done to find those responsible.

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Five famous companies founded by teens

There are numerous success stories of teen businesses that were created in college dorm rooms and other modest circumstances. Below are some of the most recognisable names in the industry:

  1. Facebook: Mark Zuckerberg and his friends started Facebook when he was a 19-year-old Harvard undergraduate. 
  2. Dell: When Michael Dell was an undergraduate student at Texas University in 1984, he started upgrading computers for profit. He starting working full-time on his business when he was 19. Eventually, his company became the Dell Computer Corporation and then Dell Inc. 
  3. Subway: Fred DeLuca opened the first Subway restaurant when he was 17. In 1965, Mr DeLuca needed extra money for college, so he decided to open his own business. Peter Buck, a family friend, lent him $1,000 and together, they opened Pete’s Super Submarines. A few years later, the company was rebranded and called Subway. 
  4. Mashable: In 2005, Pete Cashmore created Mashable in Scotland when he was a teenager. The site was then a technology blog. Over the next few decades, Mr Cashmore has turned Mashable into a global media company.
  5. Oculus VR: Palmer Luckey founded Oculus VR in June 2012, when he was 19. In August that year, Oculus launched its Kickstarter campaign and raised more than $1 million in three days. Facebook bought Oculus for $2 billion two years later.
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Male 85kg: Rudson Mateus Teles (BRA) bt Faisal Al Ketbi (UAE); 2-2 (1-1) Ref decision.

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Omar Yabroudi's factfile

Born: October 20, 1989, Sharjah

Education: Bachelor of Science and Football, Liverpool John Moores University

2010: Accrington Stanley FC, internship

2010-2012: Crystal Palace, performance analyst with U-18 academy

2012-2015: Barnet FC, first-team performance analyst/head of recruitment

2015-2017: Nottingham Forest, head of recruitment

2018-present: Crystal Palace, player recruitment manager

 

 

 

 

The specs

AT4 Ultimate, as tested

Engine: 6.2-litre V8

Power: 420hp

Torque: 623Nm

Transmission: 10-speed automatic

Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)

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The specs

Engine: 5.2-litre V10

Power: 640hp at 8,000rpm

Torque: 565Nm at 6,500rpm

Transmission: 7-speed dual-clutch auto

Price: From Dh1 million

On sale: Q3 or Q4 2022 

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4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
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6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
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The smuggler

Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple. 
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.

Khouli conviction

Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.

For sale

A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.

- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico

- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000

- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950

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Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal

Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham

Rating: 3.5/5