French remarks on Khashoggi case 'unacceptable': Turkey

A senior Turkish spokesman on Monday hit back against French remarks critical of the president’s handling of the Jamal Khashoggi case.

"If it wasn’t for Turkey's determined efforts on the Khashoggi killing, the case would already have been covered up,” Fahrettin Altun, the Turkish Presidency’s communications director, told French news agency AFP.

Altun called French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian's statements criticizing Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan over the case of Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist killed at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2, “unacceptable.”

Contradicting Erdogan’s accounts, Le Drian said on Monday that France didn't have recordings related to the Khashoggi killing.

Le Drian claimed Erdogan was playing “a political game” over the case.

On Saturday, Erdogan said Ankara had shared recordings related to the Khashoggi killing with Saudi Arabia, the U.S., Germany, France and the U.K.

"Sharing evidence about the Khashoggi killing with many friendly nations obviously shows Turkey's intentions to bring the truth to light,” Altun told reporters.

“Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau confirmed in a press release today that Turkey gave them the evidence."

Altun added that Turkey gave this evidence to French intelligence on Oct. 24, including transcripts of the recordings.

"If there is lack of communication between France's state institutions, they will be the one to solve this problem, not Turkey,” he added.

“Turkey continues to work on this case so that all the details will be revealed."

Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist and columnist for The Washington Post, went missing after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2.

After weeks of denying involvement, the Kingdom admitted he had been killed at the consulate and that it was premeditated.