Turkey seeks to know if the remains of Jamal Khashoggi come from the Saudi Arabian consulate

A Turkish official said Friday (Saturday, local time) that investigators are investigating the possibility that the remains of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi were taken to a forest outside Istanbul or to another city after his alleged assassination at the consulate earlier this month.

The highest diplomat of Ankara, meanwhile, denied having communicated to the American authorities all sound of the Saudi consulate.

The official told The Associated Press that the police had established that two vehicles belonging to the consulate had left the building on October 2 – the day Khashoggi entered the consulate and disappeared.

One of the vehicles went into the nearby forest of Belgrade, while the other went to Yalova, on the other side of the Sea of ​​Marmara, in from Istanbul, said the official, who requested anonymity because of the secrecy of the ongoing investigation.

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It was not clear if the police had already searched the areas.

Turkish prosecutors questioned 15 Turkish employees of the consulate, the Anadolu government agency reported. According to the report, they include the consul's chauffeur, technicians, accountants and telephone operators. Earlier, an AP reporter had seen a group of people leave the building, get into a van belonging to the Saudi mission and be hunted.

Turkish information indicates that Khashoggi was brutally murdered and dismembered inside the consulate by members of a team of assassins linked to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The Saudis rejected this baseless information, but have not yet explained what happened to Khashoggi, a columnist who contributed to The Washington Post who wrote critically about Prince Mohammed's rise to power.

US President Donald Trump, who had been the first to criticize the Saudis after the disappearance, but had since backed off, said Thursday (Friday, NZT) that it "would certainly appear" that Khashoggi died, and that the consequences for the Saudis "must be very severe" if they are proven to have killed him.

Saudi Arabia has not responded to repeated requests for AP comments in recent days over the disappearance of Khashoggi.

The pro-government Turkish newspaper Yeni Safak Wednesday (Thursday, NZT) reported that an audio recording of Khashoggi's assassination suggests that a Saudi team had approached him after entering the consulate, cutting off his fingers and decapitating him thereafter.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who traveled to Saudi Arabia and Turkey this week, told reporters on a plane bound for Mexico that he had never been seen or heard of such recording. Citing a top unnamed Turkish official, ABC News reported Thursday (Friday – NZT) that Pompeo had heard the alleged recording at meetings in Turkey and had received a transcript.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu also denied sharing audio recordings with US officials.

"It is out of the question for Turkey to give Pompeo or any other US official an audio recording," Cavusoglu told reporters during a visit to Tirana, Albania. "It is out of the question for us to share any particular information with any country."

"Of course, as a result of the investigation conducted so far, Turkey has some information and evidence," he said. "We will share them with the world when they become fully clear, because the whole world, of course, wants to know what happened to Khashoggi and how it happened."

Also Friday (Saturday NZT), the pro-government government of Turkey Sabah The newspaper printed other photographs of surveillance cameras showing members of a Saudi team allegedly brought to Turkey to get rid of Khashoggi.

A surveillance photo published by the same newspaper on Thursday (Friday NZT) revealed that a member of Prince Mohammed's entourage had gone to the Saudi consulate during several trips abroad. , just before the disappearance of the writer on October 2.

The man, identified by the Turkish authorities as Maher Abdulaziz Mutreb, was photographed in the context of Prince Mohammed's travels to the United States, France and Spain this year.

This week, Turkish crime scene investigators searched the residence of the Consul General of Saudi Arabia in Istanbul and carried out a second search at the consulate. The authorities did not specify what they found, although technicians took bags and cartons to the Consul General. He left Turkey on Tuesday (NZT Wednesday).

In the same vein, senior government officials from the United States, France, Britain and the Netherlands withdrew from an investment conference in Saudi Arabia Arabia, amid questions about the kingdom's involvement in the disappearance of Khashoggi.

The kingdom hoped to use this event, to be held in Riyadh on October 23 and 25, to strengthen its global image. Several company executives also canceled their project, as did the head of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde.

The Pakistani Foreign Ministry, Imran Khan, has returned to Saudi Arabia next Friday (NZT) to attend the conference. He said that Khan would also meet King Salman.

Khan has been trying to get IMF rescue loans to avoid an economic crisis and is also looking for loans in Riyadh.