A delegation from Saudi Arabia has arrived in Turkey as part of a joint investigation into the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi, amid rampant suspicion a Saudi “assassination squad” may have killed the outspoken journalist inside the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul earlier this month.
A Saudi source also said a senior royal, Prince Khaled al-Faisal, visited Turkey on Thursday for talks. Later the same day Turkey said the two countries had agreed to form a joint working group — at Riyadh’s initiative — to investigate the case.
Saudia Arabia welcomed Turkey’s approval of its request to form the team and said in a statement Friday that the kingdom is keen “to sustain the security and safety of its citizenry, wherever they might happen to be.”
Khashoggi entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2 to get documents for his forthcoming marriage. Saudi officials say he left shortly afterward but Turkish officials and his fiancée, who waited for him to return for hours outside the consulate, said he never came out.
But Turkish media published images Wednesday of an alleged 15-member Saudi “assassination squad” and video of suspicious movements at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul following Khashoggi’s disappearance a week ago.
This image, taken from closed-circuit TV video obtained by the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet, claims to show Khashoggi entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2. (Hurriyet via AP)
Turkish sources have told Reuters the initial assessment of the police was that Khashoggi, an outspoken critic of the Saudi government, was deliberately killed inside the consulate. Riyadh has dismissed the allegations as “baseless.”
“A delegation has arrived in Turkey as part of efforts to form a joint working group with Saudi Arabia,” one of the three sources said.
‘Quick results need to be seen’
The delegation, which came on Thursday, is meeting a Turkish prosecutor investigating the case as well as representatives from Turkey’s justice ministry, interior ministry, police and the national intelligence agency, another source said.
There is no set date for how long the meetings will take, but “very quick results need to be seen,” the source said. The team is now in Istanbul and will continue to work over the weekend, the source added.
Prince Khaled, the governor of Mecca, made his brief visit in his capacity as special adviser to King Salman, a source with links to the prince’s family told Reuters, in a move that would suggest the monarch was treating the issue as a priority.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has previously said that Turkey could not remain silent over Khashoggi’s disappearance and called on officials at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to prove he had left the building.
The United States and European Union have also put pressure on the Saudis to explain Khashoggi’s disappearance.
After a Turkish court decided Friday to free U.S. evangelical pastor Andrew Brunson, Khashoggi’s fiancée, Hatice Cengiz, urged U.S. President Donald Trump to use his clout to find out what happened to her partner.
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The Turkish foreign ministry previously said the Saudi consulate in Istanbul would be searched as part of the investigation.
With files from The Associated Press