A high-profile economic forum in Saudi Arabia began on Tuesday in Riyadh, the kingdom's first major event on the world stage since the killing of writer Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul earlier this month.
Khashoggi's death loomed large over the Future Investment Initiative forum and coincided with Turkish President Recip Tayyip Erdogan's claim Tuesday that Saudi officials murdered Khashoggi in their consulate after plotting his death for days. The Turkish leader demanded the kingdom reveal the identities of all involved in the killing, regardless of rank.
Saudi Arabia, which for weeks maintained Khashoggi had left the consulate, on Saturday acknowledged he was killed there in a "fistfight."
"As we gather here in Riyadh this morning, it is natural that our thoughts tend to focus on recent events surrounding the death of Jamal Khashoggi a writer, a journalist and a Saudi journalist known to many of us," said. "May he rest in peace."
She added that such "terrible acts ... are alien to our culture and DNA."