ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says officials from Saudi Arabia, the United States, Germany, France and Britain have listened to audio recordings related to the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. 
 
 Erdogan's comments on Saturday were the first public confirmation of the existence of recordings of the Oct. 2 killing of The Washington Post columnist at the consulate where he had gone to get papers to marry his fiancee. 
 
 Erdogan said: "They also listened to the conversations and they know." 
 
 He called on Saudi Arabia to rid itself of the "stain" by cooperating with Turkey over the investigation. 
 
 Erdogan said a 15-member team that Turkey says was sent to kill Khashoggi know who is behind the killing as well as the location of his remains. ||||| Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings. 
 
 / Updated By Reuters 
 
 ISTANBUL — Turkey has given recordings on the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi to Saudi Arabia, the United States, Germany, France and Britain, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday. 
 
 "We gave the tapes... They have listened to all the conversations in them. They know," Erdogan said. 
 
 NBC News has not verified his claims. 
 
 Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist who was critical of the Saudi government and its de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was killed after he entered the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2. 
 
 Turkish sources have said previously that authorities have an audio recording purportedly documenting the murder. 
 
 However, a State Department spokesperson previously denied that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo heard an audio recording or saw a transcript of the recording after he held emergency meetings in Saudi Arabia and Turkey last month. A senior Turkish official similarly denied the reports. 
 
 "Turkey has not given a voice recording to Pompeo or any other American official," Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said. 
 
 Speaking ahead of his departure for France to attend commemorations to mark the 100th anniversary of the end of World War One, Erdogan said Saudi Arabia knows the killer of Jamal Khashoggi is among a group of 15 people who arrived in Turkey one day ahead of the Oct. 2 killing. 
 
 "There's no need to distort this issue," he said. "Saudi Arabia's government can disclose this by making these 15 people talk." 
 
 Erdogan said he may meet with President Donald Trump, who is also in Paris for the ceremonies this weekend. 
 
 "When we go to Paris, we will try to secure an opportunity and we will realize a bilateral meeting," Erdogan said. 
 
 Trump himself previously cast doubt on a leaked recording, telling reporters he was “not sure yet that it exists,” but that if it does, the U.S. had asked Turkey to share it. 
 
 But following a meeting in Paris on Saturday between Trump and French leader Emmanuel Macron, a French presidency source said the pair agreed that the Saudi authorities needed to shed full light on Khashoggi's murder. 
 
 They also agreed that the matter should not be allowed to cause further destabilization in the Middle East and that it could create an opportunity to find a political resolution to the war in Yemen, according to the official. ||||| Turkey has shared recordings related to the killing of Jamal Khashoggi with Saudi Arabia, the United States, Germany, France and Britain, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday. 
 
 Turkish sources have said previously that authorities have an audio recording purportedly documenting the murder of the Saudi journalist. 
 
 The existence of such a recording has never been officially confirmed. 
 
 Speaking before his departure for France to attend commemorations to mark the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I, Erdogan said Saudi Arabia knows Khashoggi's killer is among a group of 15 people who flew into Istanbul hours before the October 2 killing. 
 
 "We gave the tapes. We gave them to Saudi Arabia, to the United States, Germans, French and British, all of them. They have listened to all the conversations in them," Erdogan said. 
 
 "They know." 
 
 Sources told Al Jazeera on Saturday that Turkish police ended the search for Khashoggi's body, but that the criminal investigation into the 59-year-old's murder would continue. 
 
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 Al Jazeera learned on Friday that traces of acid were found at the Saudi consul-general's residence in Istanbul, where the body was believed to be disposed of with the use of chemicals. 
 
 The residence is at walking distance from the Saudi consulate, where Khashoggi - a Washington Post columnist critical of the Saudi government and the all-powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman - was killed by a team of Saudi officers and officials. 
 
 Saudi Arabia has changed its narrative about the murder several times amid international outcry and intensifying scepticism over its account. 
 
 After insisting for more than two weeks that Khashoggi had left the consulate, it then admitted the journalist had died in a fistfight inside the building. Later, Riyadh conceded Khashoggi was killed in a premeditated murder, but that the murder was an unplanned "rogue operation". 
 
 However, Erdogan has accused the "highest levels" of the Saudi government of ordering the hit, while some officials have pointed the finger at the crown prince - a charge Riyadh denies. 
 
 Meeting with Trump 
 
 Speaking before his departure, Erdogan also said he might meet with US President Donald Trump in Paris during the commemorations. 
 
 "When we go to Paris, we will try to secure an opportunity and we will realise a bilateral meeting," Erdogan said. 
 
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 Al Jazeera's Jamal Elshayyal, reporting from Istanbul, said the timing of Erdogan's comments was "very significant". 
 
 "It happened as he was getting on the plane to go to Paris to meet with Trump. Erdogan is making it very clear that everyone knows what has happened, everyone who is a significant player in the region has the evidence." 
 
 Osman Sert, research director at Ankara Institute, said that Ankara will now attempt to "put pressure" on Washington, a major Saudi ally, but added that "there is a good atmosphere for the Turkish-American relations to go forward during this case". 
 
 "The public's priority should be to find out who committed this crime and who ordered this crime," he said. 
 
 "What should be done right now is Turkey shouldn't be left alone against the Saudis. The Europeans and Americans should stand with Turkey." 
 
 Joint investigations 
 
 Elshayyal also said that Erdogan's remarks marked the first time Turkey's president "had spoken directly about those audio recordings", adding that the move raised doubts on claims that the taps might have obtained "in some kind of clandestine tapping by the Turkish authorities". 
 
 Turkish and Saudi officials have carried out joint inspections of the consulate and the consul-general's residence, but Erdogan said some Saudi officials were still trying to cover up the crime. 
 
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 Elshayyal said that Saudi officials, despite officially claiming that they would cooperate with their Turkish counterparts, so far have not only refused to do that but possibly tried to tamper with the ongoing investigation. 
 
 "They namely did this by sending in chemical experts [in the consulate and consul-general's home] to destroy evidence," he said. 
 
 "They also denied Turkish requests to once again search the consul-general's home, after Turks found samples of chemicals in the garden of the residence." 
 
 Istanbul's chief prosecutor said on October 31 that Khashoggi was strangled as soon as he entered the consulate and that his body was dismembered, in the first official comments on the case. 
 
 Saudi Arabia has said it arrested 18 people and dismissed five senior government officials as part of an investigation into Khashoggi's killing 
 
 Ankara also seeks extradition of the suspects.
– Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says officials from Saudi Arabia, the United States, Germany, France, and Britain have listened to audio recordings related to the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, the AP reports. Erdogan's comments on Saturday were the first public confirmation of the existence of recordings of the Oct. 2 killing of the Washington Post columnist at the consulate where he'd gone to get papers to marry his fiancee. "We gave the tapes," Erdogan said Saturday before departing for Paris, where he'll attend events with other world leaders marking the armistice that ended World War I, per Al Jazeera. "They have listened to all the conversations in them. They know." NBC News notes that a State Department rep had previously denied that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had heard any such audio or seen any audio transcript when he visited Turkey last month. President Trump, meanwhile, has said that the US has asked for any audio "if it exists." Erdogan called on Saudi Arabia to rid itself of the "stain" by cooperating with Turkey over the investigation. Erdogan said a 15-member team that Turkey says was sent to kill Khashoggi know who's behind the killing, as well as the location of his remains. (Saudis are boycotting Amazon over coverage of Khashoggi's murder.)