Istanbul Consulate

Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler will on June 22 take another step towards breaking his international isolation by paying his first visit to Türkiye since the murder in 2018 of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the kingdom's Istanbul consulate.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman will visit Türkiye on June 22, a senior Turkish official told AFP on June 17, as Ankara and Riyadh move on from the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan traveled to Saudi Arabia on April 28 to mend a rift between the countries caused by the murder of Riyadh critic Jamal Khashoggi in the kingdom's Istanbul consulate in 2018.

The two-day trip comes as Ankara and Riyadh have, in recent months, attempted to repair some diplomatic damage after a decade of tension.

A New York judge on Dec. 8 ordered U.S. intelligence agencies to acknowledge they possess a tape recording of the 2018 murder of Saudi Arabian journalist Jamal Khashoggi, in a ruling hailed by rights activists.

Jamal Khashoggi felt threatened by people close to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman before he was assassinated, said a close friend in his testimony to an Istanbul court on Nov. 24.

A Turkish court on April 11 accepted an indictment on the 2018 killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.

The 117-page indictment prepared by Istanbul prosecutors accusing 20 Saudi nationals of involvement in the gruesome premeditated murder was accepted by Istanbul's Heavy Penal Court No. 11.

The killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the kingdom's Istanbul Consulate was "planned and perpetrated by Saudi officials," the UN special rapporteur said on Feb. 7.

Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was murdered in October at his country's Istanbul consulate, was named Time magazine's "Person of the Year" Tuesday, an honor he shared with other persecuted journalists dubbed as "guardians" of the truth.    

Five Saudi officials face the death penalty over the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was killed inside the kingdom's Istanbul consulate, Riyadh's public prosecutor said Nov. 15.

US President Donald Trump charged Tuesday that a Saudi operation to kill journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Riyadh's consulate in Istanbul had given rise to "one of the worst cover-ups" in history, reported AFP.