A Saudi delegation has arrived in Turkey for talks on missing journalist Jamal Khashoggi, officials said on Friday, with Riyadh and Ankara sharply at odds over how he disappeared last week from the kingdom’s Istanbul consulate.
As the controversy intensified, the Washington Post reported Turkey had recordings made from inside the building that allegedly proved their claims Khashoggi had been tortured and killed at the consulate. His case risks hurting not just fragile Turkish-Saudi relations but also damaging the image of the kingdom and its ties to the West as powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman promotes a reform drive.
Saudi journalist and Washington Post contributor Khashoggi vanished on October 2 after entering the consulate to obtain documents ahead of his upcoming marriage. Turkish government sources say police believe he was killed but Riyadh denies that.
The Saudi delegation, whose composition was not immediately clear, is expected to meet with Turkish officials at the weekend, state media said on Friday.
The Turkish leadership has so far stopped short of accusing Saudi Arabia, although sensational claims have been published in pro-government media including that an “assassination team” was sent to Istanbul to eliminate Khashoggi. In a rare public comment on the case by a Saudi official, Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Britain, Prince Mohammed bin Nawaf al Saud, told the BBC that Riyadh was “concerned” about its citizen.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called on Riyadh to prove Khashoggi left the building, challenging Saudi Arabia to provide CCTV images to back up its account.
Khashoggi, a Saudi national living in the United States since September 2017 fearing arrest, criticised some policies of Mohammed bin Salman as well as Riyadh’s intervention in the war in Yemen.
The Washington Post reported the Turkish government has told US officials it has audio and video recordings which show how Khashoggi was “interrogated, tortured and then murdered” inside the consulate before his body was dismembered.