Saudi to let Turkey search Istanbul consulate

ANKARA - Saudi Arabia has agreed to let Turkish authorities search the kingdom's Istanbul consulate after prominent journalist and Riyadh critic Jamal Khashoggi went missing last week, the Turkish foreign ministry said Tuesday.

"Saudi authorities said they were open to cooperation and that a search can be conducted at the consulate building," the ministry spokesman Hami Aksoy said in a statement.

The search will take place as part of the official investigation, which was being conducted "in an intense manner", he said without giving any date.

Khashoggi, a Washington Post contributor who wrote for Arab and Western media, vanished last Tuesday after visiting the consulate to obtain official documents.

Turkish police were looking into two private aircraft which landed at Istanbul's Ataturk airport on Tuesday at different times carrying 15 people of interest in the case, as well as the possibility that Khashoggi was kidnapped and taken aboard one of the planes, local media reported.

Previously Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told Bloomberg that Riyadh would be ready to welcome Turkish officials to search the premises.

Ankara sought permission Sunday to carry out a search after the foreign ministry summoned the Saudi ambassador for a second time, Turkish television reported.

Riyadh's envoy in Ankara was first called to the ministry on Wednesday.

Khashoggi, a former Saudi government adviser, had been living in self-imposed exile in the United States since last year fearing possible arrest.

He has been critical of some policies of the crown prince and Riyadh's intervention in the war in Yemen.

A Saudi source at the consulate has denied that Khashoggi had been killed at the mission and said that the accusations were baseless. The consulate has also denied that Khashoggi was abducted.

Saudi Ambassador to the United States Prince Khalid bin Salman, the Saudi Crown Prince's brother, echoed these comments in a statement, adding that his country has sent a security team, with Turkey's approval, to assist in the investigation.

US President Donald Trump, in the first expression of concern by his administration on Khashoggi's disappearance, said he was troubled by reports about the journalist's fate.

"I am concerned about it. I don't like hearing about it. And hopefully that will sort itself out. Right now nobody knows anything about it, but there are some pretty bad stories going around. I do not like it," he told reporters at the White House.

Later in a tweet about the reports, Vice President Mike Pence said, "Violence against journalists across the globe is a threat to freedom of the press & human rights. The free world deserves answers."

Turkey has asked for permission to search Saudi Arabia's consulate in Istanbul, broadcaster NTV said on Monday.

A Turkish official said Saudi Arabia's envoy to Ankara had been summoned to the foreign ministry for a second time on Sunday. "It has been conveyed to him that we expect full coordination in the investigation process," the official said.

The two Turkish sources told Reuters that Turkish authorities believe Khashoggi was deliberately killed inside the consulate, a view echoed by one of Erdogan's advisers, Yasin Aktay, who is a friend of the Saudi journalist.

At 1:14 pm (1014 GMT) on October 2, Khashoggi, a US resident, was recorded entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul by a surveillance camera picture published by the Washington Post.

He was there to receive an official document for his upcoming marriage to his fiancee Hatice Cengiz.

Erdogan told reporters on Sunday that authorities were examining camera footage and airport records as part of their investigation, after Turkish authorities believed Khashoggi was deliberately killed inside the consulate, a view echoed by one of Erdogan's advisers, Yasin Aktay, who is a friend of the Saudi journalist.

Turkey’s numerous reactions to the case further raise speculation about the multiple scenarios of the journalist’s disappearance.