News outlets pick up on fringe claims that Khashoggi body found

A number of news outlets, including the official state-run Chinese news agency and the Daily Mirror, have cited comments made by a controversial ultra-nationalist politician in Turkey that Jamal Khashoggi's body parts had been found in a well in Istanbul.

Dogu Perincek, head of the tiny Vatan party, said that Turkish security officials had found parts of Khashoggi "in a well in the garden of the consul," according to the Haberler news site.

Although Perincek is not generally regarded as a credible source of information - and is most famous internationally for winning an ECHR battle to have the right to deny the Armenian genocide - his comments were picked up by foreign news outlets.

The China Xinhua News agency, which has 11.7 million followers on Twitter, tweeted out that Khashoggi's body had been found, while the Daily Mirror reported on the comments as well, while adding that the Turkish government had "not offered a comment on the claims".

The report was also picked up by Sputnik, Al-Mayadeen News, and a number of Turkish outlets.

During his speech on Tuesday, Erdogan said the body of Khashoggi was "nowhere to be found".

Perincek has previously told Middle East Eye that he believed the US was behind a plan to create a Kurdish state in the Middle East in order to divide Turkey, and has called for Turkey to break away from the US, EU and NATO and form new alliances with Russian and China.