The Saudi Kingdom announced Saturday that the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed in a fight in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

Saudi state television announced that 18 Saudi citizens were detained in connection with the death of Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul Consulate building.

The announcement continued that anyone who has the finger in the death of Khashoggi will account and will be handed to so-called justice.

Where is Khashoggi's body?

No information has been shared about the cause of the alleged fight and the whereabouts of Khashoggi's body.

President Erdoğan and Saudi King Selman bin Abdulaziz had a phone conversation before the Saudis announcement on Khashoggi's fate.

Meanwhile, Saudi Deputy General Intelligence Vice President Ahmed Asiri and 5 senior officials were dismissed with the royal decree issued in Saudi Arabia.

The American New York Times [NYT] had previously written that the Saudis were preparing to hold General Ahmad Al Asiri, senior advisors to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, responsible for the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

People with knowledge of the Saudi plans had told NYT on Thursday that the kingdom was planning to blame the operation on General Assiri, the deputy intelligence director. The people said the kingdom would portray the operation as carried out by rogue actors who did not have orders from the top and who had set out to interrogate and kidnap Khashoggi but ended up killing him, perhaps accidentally.

According to the report, the General Intelligence Directorate of Saudi Arabia will be restructured by this operation.

Khashoggi's fate was hidden from the public for 18 days

Prime Minister Prince Selman will be the head of the ministerial committee to restructure the General Intelligence Department of Saudi Arabia.

The fate of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was not seen from since he entered the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on October 2, had hidden from the public for 18 days.

At the end of the process, the announcement that Khashoggi died in a fight brought the comments that the scenario was prepared in a very simple way. (ILKHA)