Turkey: Saudi Crown Prince Asked To Meet Erdogan At G20 Summit

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman has requested a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan when the two attend the G20 summit in Buenos Aires later this week. The Turkish leader reportedly did not explicitly turn down the overture, but instead left the matter up in the air. Relations between the two countries hit rock-bottom following the killing in October of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. After repeatedly denying any involvement, Riyadh has admitted that the dissident reporter was killed and then dismembered by a team of Saudi agents that failed to persuade him to return to the Sunni Muslim kingdom. Khashoggi had been living in self-imposed exile amid fears that his support for the Muslim Brotherhood and fierce criticism of the Saudi military campaign in Yemen made him a target in a mass crackdown by the royal family. Erdogan has absolved King Salman of responsibility for the killing, instead pointing to the young crown prince who has come under intense international fire for his alleged advanced knowledge, if not overt direction, of the murder. United States President Donald Trump has backed bin Salman and stressed last week that Washington would remain a “steadfast partner” of the House of Saud.