Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Sunday accused the United States of maintaining a "silence" on the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
"I cannot understand America's silence... We want everything to be clarified because there is an atrocity, there is a murder," Erdoğan told a televised interview. "The Khashoggi murder is not an ordinary one."
US President Donald Trump has said he is opposed to imposing sanctions on the Saudi leadership, vowing to remain a "steadfast partner" of Saudi Arabia rather than risk economic loss by damaging relations.
On the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Erdoğan also said that he listened to the sound recording of Khashoggi's killing.
The president added that Saudi Arabia must provide answers regarding the 22 people responsible for Khashoggi's death, including 15 who had arrived in Turkey.
Erdoğan's remarks come as UN rapporteur Agnes Callamard concluded a week-long trip to Turkey on Sunday to gather information on the events surrounding Khashoggi's death.
Saudi Arabia said Khashoggi's death was the result of a "rogue operation" and has put 11 defendants on trial for the crime. Only after massive international pressure did the government in Riyadh admit Khashoggi was killed by Saudi agents.
Erdoğan has long insisted that the order to kill Khashoggi, a vocal critic of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, came from the highest levels of the Saudi government.
In December, the US Senate passed a bill that directly pinned the blame for the murder on the crown prince and ordered the US military to cease all assistance to the Saudi-led war in Yemen.
"SOME 300,000 SYRIAN REFUGEES HAVE BEEN ABLE TO RETURN HOME"
Turkey's president announced on Sunday he would take part in a summit with his Russian and Iranian counterparts to be held on Feb 14 in the Russian Black Sea town of Sochi on the Syrian conflict.
Erdoğan expressed hope that this summit would help further improve the situation in the regions of Jerablus, Afrin and Idlib in the north and west of Syria so that refugees forced to leave the war-torn country would be able to return in larger numbers.
He added that situation in these areas was "getting better by the day," with 300,000 refugees having returned from Turkey so far.
Turkey currently hosts some 3.6 million Syrian refugees, according to estimates.
Noting that steps have been taken with Russia regarding patrols around the northern Syrian town of Manbij, Erdoğan announced that a Turkish delegation had returned from Russia for talks on Syria which had resulted in "positive developments."
"I hope this positive development will lead to the exit of these [terrorist] organizations, leaving this place as soon as possible and its rightful owners will come and settle in their lands," he said.
Ruling out any potential operation into the region in the near future, he criticized Washington's failure to leave Manbij within 90 days as previously promised.
Referring to Turkey's Operation Olive Branch in northwestern Syria liberating the region from YPG/PKK and Daesh terrorists, Erdogan stressed that had it not been for Turkey's maneuver, these terror organizations would have been able to reach the Mediterranean Sea.
President Erdoğan further underlined that Turkey's policy on northern Syria focused on the territorial integrity of the war-torn country, adding that talks were being held at lower levels with the Syrian government.
"We don't advocate the fragmenting of the Syrian people," Erdoğan said.
Further, President Erdoğan said that the Peoples' Democratic Party in Turkey "equaled" the PKK/YPG/PYD terror group.
In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK -- recognized as a terrorist group by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU -- has been responsible for the deaths of some 40,000 people, including women and children. The YPG/PYD is the group's Syrian branch.
"I HOPE TRUMP KEEPS HIS PROMISE"
Erdoğan also discussed United States' involvement in Syria, saying: "(Donald) Trump has promised that the U.S. will leave Syria soon. I hope he keeps his promise. Likewise, we do not want to live under threat."
Asked about the U.S. government's actions in regard to Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ), whose leader Fetullah Gülen resides in Pennsylvania, Erdoğan said Washington could make a decision now that the FBI has completed probes into terror group members in the U.S.
The president also praised the progress achieved in Turkey's economy, saying that the latest peak over 100 by Istanbul's stock index Borsa Istanbul (BIST 100) showed that the world sees Turkey as the 'place to go' for investment.
Noting that Turkey's exports have risen to $168 billion from $36 billion since 2002, Erdoğan lauded the country's defense industry as a driver of growth.
