One-Person Protest for Journalist Khashoggi

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Sahar Zaky, a citizen of Canada from Egypt who has stated that she was a friend of the Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, has laid flowers on the barriers in front of the Consulate General of Saudi Arabia in the district of Levent in İstanbul. While laying the flowers, Zaky has chanted the slogan, "Justice to Jamal Khashoggi".

Sahar Zaky, who is also an academic at a university in Egypt, has laid a bouquet of chrysanthemums in front of the consulate and shown a paper with the photograph of Jamal Khashoggi on it.

Answering the questions of journalists, Zaky has stated that she was a friend of Khashoggi and no one has made a clear statement for 21 days about the incident. Zaky has also added that the consulate is a "camp" and she has been "of the opinion that the murder of Khashoggi is not the first".

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What happened?

The whereabouts of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was a columnist at Washington Post newspaper and a citizen of Saudi Arabia, had not been known as of October 2, 2018 at 1 a.m., when he was last seen while entering the Consulate General of Saudi Arabia in İstanbul.

Reuters news agency and journalists from Turkey as well as the Chair of Turkish-Arabic Media Association Turan Kışlakçı claimed that Khashoggi was killed and his body was taken out of the consulate.

Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Hami Aksoy announced that the officials in the General Consulate of Saudi Arabia accepted the request of Turkey to make an investigation at the consulate.

The İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office also assigned a deputy chief prosecutor and a chief public prosecutor to conduct the judicial processes in the investigation that has been launched by Turkey after the journalist, who has allegedly been killed, was reported to be missing.

On October 16, police officers conducted a search at the Consulate General of Saudi Arabia. One day later, on October 17, the consulate was searched and examined for the second time and the residence of the Consul General of Saudi Arabia was also searched by the security forces.

On October 20, the official news agency of Saudi Arabia, SPA reported that according to the results of the investigation conducted by the Saudi Arabia Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, Khashoggi "started to argue with other citizens of Saudi Arabia in the Consulate General in İstanbul, the argument turned into a row and Khashoggi lost his life as a result of this commotion."

On October 22, 22 employees of the Consulate General, including the ones from Turkey and the foreign nationals, came to the İstanbul Courthouse in Çağlayan to give their depositions as witnesses.

The testimonies of 23 workers of the consulate were also taken on October 19. The investigation in Turkey has still been continuing. (EMK/SD)