Erdogan: Attempts to slander Turkey will not deter it

“During a call with the Saudi king, we reached an agreement to create a joint working group, as I have discussed with a prior delegation, which has started its works.

"On instruction from the king, the prosecutor’s office and teams from the police force have entered the consul general building for certain inquiries. Of course, just as the consul general had not allowed us principally, I spoke to the delegation who had come in about the insufficiency of this consul general, which I reiterated to the king himself. And a day after I had spoken, the consul general was removed from his post. The consul general has now returned to his country.

"On 19 October, 17 days after the murder, the Saudi administration has officially admitted that Jamal Khashoggi was killed in the consulate building. In the statement made on behalf of the administration, it was said that Jamal Khashoggi had perished during a melee in the consulate. We had a phone call with King Salman bin Abdulaziz in the late hours of the same day, and he said that 18 people involved in the murder had been arrested.

"On 21 October, we had a comprehensive phone call with Trump and we have agreed on bringing to light every aspect of the issue. As Turkey, we have managed this entire process in line with the seriousness of the state and international law. In the spirit of this, there has been a complaint of slander in various media. We know who had conducted these campaigns with what purpose. These attempts on our country’s reputation will never be able to detain us from seeking the truth.” [Applause]