French foreign minister says not aware of recordings related to Khashoggi's killing

French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian on Monday said that France was not in possession of recordings related to the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi as far as he was aware, contradicting remarks by Turkey's president.

Khashoggi, a critic of de facto Saudi ruler Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was killed in Saudi Arabia's Istanbul consulate last month in a hit which President Tayyip Erdogan says was ordered at the "highest levels" of the Saudi government.

Erdogan on Saturday said that tapes related to Khashoggi's killing were handed over to France, Germany and Britain, but in an interview on France 2, Le Drian said this was not the case, as far as he knew.

Asked if that meant Erdogan was lying, Le Drian said: "it means that he has a political game to play in these circumstances."

While President Tayyip Erdogan's communications director said it was unacceptable for French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian to accuse the Turkish president of playing political games in the case of the slain Saudi journalist.

Khashoggi's murder provoked international outrage but little concrete action by world powers against Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter and a supporter of Washington's plans to contain Iranian influence across the Middle East.

U.S. President Donald Trump and Erdogan have discussed how to respond to the killing last month of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a White House official said on Sunday.