Turkey's foreign minister has reacted with fury after his French counterpart said President Tayyip Erdogan was playing a political game over sharing intelligence about the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian had questioned Erdogan's weekend remarks that Turkey gave tapes relating to Khashoggi's killing to the United States, Saudi Arabia, Germany, France and Britain.
Le Drian said he was not aware that France had any tapes. Asked if Erdogan was lying, he said: "He has a political game to play in these circumstances".
That prompted a furious response from Ankara.
"Our intelligence shared information with them on Oct 24, including the voice recordings," Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said.
"It is very impudent for them to accuse our president of playing political games."
"What's behind the remarks of the French foreign minister? I wonder if they are trying to cover up the murder," he added.
A senior French diplomat later said Le Drian never commented on intelligence shared between countries and that he was neither confirming or denying French officials having listened to recordings.
Khashoggi, a critic of de facto Saudi ruler Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was killed in Saudi Arabia's Istanbul consulate last month.
Erdogan says the murder was ordered at the "highest levels" of the Saudi government.
Saudi authorities have acknowledged that the killing was premeditated.
CIA director Gina Haspel heard an audio recording of Khashoggi's death when she visited Istanbul, two sources told Reuters last month.
US President Donald Trump and Erdogan have discussed how to respond to the killing.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Monday that Canadian intelligence officers have also listened to recordings of what happened to Khashoggi.
"We are in discussions with our like-minded allies as to the next steps with regard to Saudi Arabia," Trudeau said.
Khashoggi's murder provoked international outrage but so far little concrete action has been taken by world powers against Saudi Arabia.
Australian Associated Press
