Personally I don't care if they killed him or if Turkey is lying through their teeth.
I would say it is about 40/60.
Defense? I could care less for the journalist himself. But he was there as an employee of an American business, even if that business was the WaPo. American businesses’ employees have a right to go about their duties without being murdered. What we think of those businesses and the employees is irrelevant. If he were in South America and kidnapped by the Sandero Luminoso, it would be the same.