A UN human rights expert held talks with Turkish government officials on Monday, the first day of her week-long visit to Turkey for an international inquiry into the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Agnes Callamard met Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in Ankara and was also expected to meet Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gul, according to state news agency Anadolu.
Cavusoglu shared a picture from the meeting, which was closed to the press, on Twitter, without elaborating on the details.
Callamard, the UN’s special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, is expected to meet Istanbul chief prosecutor Irfan Fidan on Tuesday, according to the prosecutor’s office.
Callamard, who is leading a team of legal and forensic experts, has also made a request to visit the Saudi consulate in Istanbul and also to visit the kingdom, the UN human rights branch told dpa on Monday.
It was not immediately clear if her request was confirmed or when she would have access to the consulate.
The UN visit comes nearly four months after Khashoggi was murdered inside Riyadh’s consulate in Istanbul.
Saudi Arabia insists that the death of Khashoggi, a Saudi national and vocal critic of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was a “rogue operation” and has put 11 defendants on trial for the crime.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has insisted that the order to kill Khashoggi came from the highest levels of the Saudi government.
On Oct. 31, Istanbul’s chief prosecutor announced that Khashoggi was strangled to death in the consulate and his body was dismembered in a premeditated operation, and that his body was disposed of.
The UN team will assess steps taken by the Turkish and Saudi governments to address the case, Callamard said in a statement last week.
The UN experts will also assess the “nature and extent of states’ and individuals’ responsibilities for the killing,” the statement read.
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