Turkey on Saturday accused Saudi Arabia of failing to cooperate with a probe into the disappearance of a journalist inside the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul.
Comments by Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs Mevlut Cavusoglu represented a hardening of Ankara’s hitherto circumspect tone over the case of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who has not been seen since he stepped inside the consulate on Oct. 2.
Turkish officials have said they believe Khashoggi was killed inside the consulate, and lurid claims have been leaked to media that he was tortured and even dismembered.
Saudi Arabia insists Khashoggi, a Washington Post contributor whose writings have been critical of powerful Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, left the building safely, but has yet to offer visual evidence of this.
The outcry surrounding his disappearance threatens to not just harm brittle Turkey-Saudi relations, but also alarm the kingdom’s supporters in the West and tarnish the reform drive spearheaded by the crown prince.
Ankara had said that a search of the consulate had been agreed, but this has yet to materialize amid reports the two sides are at odds over the conditions of entry into what is Saudi sovereign territory.
“We still have not seen cooperation in order to ensure a smooth investigation and bring everything to light. We want to see this,” Cavusoglu said.
Riyadh must let Turkish “prosecutors and experts enter the consulate” to carry out their investigation, he said.
A Saudi delegation was in Turkey and due to have talks this weekend in Ankara, and take part in a working group on the disappearance, Turkish media said.
Khashoggi’s Turkish fiancee, Hatice Cengiz, who was waiting outside the consulate when he went inside to sort out marriage paperwork, echoed the call on Twitter, urging Saudi Arabia to “officially reveal what happened” to him.
She said Saturday marked the 60th birthday of Khashoggi and she had previously planned “a surprise party” in Istanbul by the Bosphorus.
Saudi Minister of the Interior Prince Abdel Aziz bin Saud bin Nayef slammed claims that the kingdom ordered Khashoggi to be killed inside the consulate as “baseless allegations and lies.”
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