ANKARA, Oct 12, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Turkey and Saudi Arabia are at odds over
a planned search by the Turkish authorities at the kingdom’s Istanbul
consulate where journalist Jamal Khashoggi disappeared last week, media said
Friday.
Saudi journalist and The Washington Post contributor Khashoggi vanished on
October 2 after entering the consulate to obtain documents ahead of his
upcoming marriage.
Riyadh agreed on Tuesday to let Turkish authorities search the Saudi
mission as part of the investigation into the disappearance of Khashoggi, 59.
But the search has not yet taken place.
Pro-government Turkish daily Sabah said this was because Saudi officials
would only allow a superficial “visual” probe.
The Turkish side did not accept the offer and Sabah said officials wanted
to search the building with luminol, a chemical that allows the discovery of
blood traces.
The newspaper reported there had been intense diplomatic contacts between
the two sides.
Reports of a dispute come after presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said
on Thursday that a joint working group would be set up.
Saudi Arabia insisted that Khashoggi left the consulate safely but Turkish
officials have said he did not leave the building, with police believing he
may have been killed.
The murder claims have been dismissed by Riyadh as “baseless”.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on Riyadh to prove Khashoggi
left, challenging Saudi Arabia to provide CCTV images to back up its account.
Officers were looking into sound recordings sent from a smart watch that
Khashoggi was wearing when he was inside the consulate to a mobile phone
which he gave to his Turkish fiancee waiting outside, Hatice Cengiz.
While Milliyet daily reported that “arguments and shouting” could be heard
on the recordings, Sozcu newspaper said that only “some conversations” could
be heard.
Pro-government daily Yeni Safak reported that police were also
investigating the possibility that Khashoggi’s body was taken via the sewage
system.
Khashoggi, a Saudi national living in the United States since September
2017 fearing arrest, criticised some policies of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed
bin Salman as well as Riyadh’s intervention in the war in Yemen.