2024-07-11 10:45:52
Turkey has demanded an explanation from Saudi Arabia after Saudi police detained Turkish journalist Kurtulus Demirbaş, Turkish diplomatic sources said, quoted by the Anadolu Agency.
According to the information of the diplomatic sources, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkey received on the evening of July 8 the information about the arrest of the journalist Demirbaş, who went to Saudi Arabia to cover football matches.
Official information was immediately requested from Saudi authorities. The matter is being closely monitored and the family of our citizen is being informed regularly about the developments, the sources said.
According to Turkish opposition media, including the ANKA news agency, Demirbaş was detained because of alleged comments he made about the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018, BTA reported.
Khashoggi (59), a contributor to the Washington Post newspaper, was close to the Saudi authorities, but then became their fierce critic. He was assassinated in 2018 at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. His remains were not found.
In 2020, Saudi Arabia sentenced 8 people to between 7 and 20 years in prison for Khashoggi’s murder.
Relations between Ankara and Riyadh had soured over the incident.