Saudis 'must and will' prove whereabouts of missing journalist Jamal Khashoggi - Erdogan
Reports suggest the writer, who vanished six days ago after visiting the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, was "cut into pieces".
Monday 8 October 2018 19:18, UK
Turkey's president has said the Saudi consulate "must and will" prove the whereabouts of missing journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Speaking on a visit to Hungary, Recep Tayyip Erdogan added that prosecutors are looking into Saudi arrivals and departures at Istanbul airport.
Turkish officials have said authorities believe Mr Khashoggi was killed at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, but the Arab kingdom denies the claims.
At a news conference in Budapest, Mr Erdogan said the Saudis "cannot save themselves" by claiming the outspoken journalist left the building.
"We have to get an outcome from this investigation as soon as possible," he said.
"The consulate officials cannot save themselves by simply saying 'he has left'."
The Turkish leader had earlier described Mr Khashoggi as a "journalist I knew for a long time" and a "friend".
It comes after authorities in Turkey asked to search the consulate for the missing Saudi journalist, who had been an outspoken critic of his home country.
The request, reported by Turkish broadcaster NTV, comes after the prominent journalist went missing after entering the building in Istanbul six days ago.
Saudi Arabia's envoy to Ankara was summoned to the foreign ministry for a second time on Sunday.
He has been asked by Turkish diplomats to be "in full co-ordination" on the matter.
A Turkish official said: "The initial assessment of the Turkish police is that Mr Khashoggi has been killed at the consulate of Saudi Arabia in Istanbul.
"We believe that the murder was premeditated and the body was subsequently moved out of the consulate."
A senior police source told online news website Middle East Eye the journalist had been "brutally murdered, killed and cut into pieces".
The source said: "Everything was videotaped to prove the mission had been accomplished and the tape was taken out of the country."
A friend of Mr Khashoggi, Galip Dalay, told Paste BN that he "personally got the news that he was killed two days ago".
Saudi authorities rejected the allegations as "baseless" and said a team of investigators had been sent to the Turkish city to help look into the case.
“I would like to confirm that...Jamal is not at the consulate nor in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the consulate and the embassy are working to search for him,” consul-general Mohammad al-Otaibi said in an interview.
“We are worried about this case.”
On Saturday, the Istanbul-based Saudi consulate was opened up to journalists.
Mr al-Otaibi opened cupboards, filing cabinets and wooden panels covering air conditioning units as he escorted the reporters through the six floors of the building.
He confirmed the building was covered by cameras, but claimed they did not record footage and so it would not be possible to show video evidence of the missing journalist leaving the building.
A fierce critic of Saudi policies, the royal family and its power, Mr Khashoggi had been living in self-imposed exile in Washington for the last year, fearing retribution for his views.
But Mr Dalay said Mr Khashoggi was not a political dissident. "He's a journalist - simple," he said. "A journalist and intellectual.
"He disagreed with some of the policies of Mohammed bin Salman, but he was not a political dissident, he's not leading any organised network, he was a journalist - he wanted to write and to speak freely, and that was the reason he left Saudi Arabia."
The 59-year-old former government adviser visited the consulate on Tuesday to obtain paperwork to marry his Turkish fiancee, Hatice Cengiz, who was reportedly waiting outside the building for him. He never emerged.
Mr Khashoggi reportedly left his phone with her - plus instructions to call a member of Turkey's governing party if he failed to return.
He has not been seen or heard from since.
His disappearance is likely to further deepen divisions between Turkey and Saudi Arabia.
Relations were already strained after Turkey gave support to Qatar last year after Saudi Arabia and some of its allies boycotted the country.