Macron to Talk to Turkish President, Saudi Crown Prince About Missing Journo

PARIS (Sputnik) - French President Emmanuel Macron told France 24 broadcaster that he was intending to talk to his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman about the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

"I haven't talked to the Turkish president, nor to the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia. I will certainly talk to them," Macron said, as quoted by the broadcaster.

France is demanding that those with any information about the recent disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi Arabian opposition journalist in Turkey, help establish the truth about the incident, the French Foreign Ministry has stated.

"The disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul on October 2 raises serious concerns about his fate. France demands that the facts [of his disappearance] be clearly established and all those who can help in finding out the truthfully participate in this," the ministry said in a statement.

According to the statement, claims about the Saudi authorities involvement make it necessary that Riyadh gives a detailed answer in relation to the journalist's disappearance.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the Saudi authorities' comments on the issue are unconvincing and called for Riyadh to prove that they have nothing to do with the disappearance.

READ MORE: Bahrain, UAE Support Saudis in Row Over Missing Journalist- Foreign Ministers

Khashoggi, a columnist for The Washington Post, went missing in Turkey last week. According to the journalist's fiancee, he was invited to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul but never left the consulate building. According to media reports, Turkish investigators believe the journalist was murdered inside the consulate, but Saudi Arabia has denied the allegations. Riyadh insists that the journalist went missing after he left the consulate.

Apart from that, Saudi Arabian Crown Prince has authorized access to the consulate building for the Turkish authorities in relation to the case, with Saudi officials vowing to find a footage of the accident.