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ISTANBUL – Turkish police investigate whether a black Mercedes pickup truck was used to kidnap a dead Saudi journalist after entering the Saudi Arabian consulate last week, as the two regional powers competed and that the American authorities are alarmed.
Prosecutors in Turkey have opened a criminal investigation into the fate of Jamal Khashoggi, a critic of the Saudi government, with no news since he arrived at the consulate to collect divorce papers on 2 October.
The Turkish police initially concluded that Mr. Khashoggi was probably killed at the consulate, an allegation that the Saudi government has strongly denied. He sent his own team of investigators to help the Turkish investigation.
A more detailed analysis of video footage of a burst of cars, including the black Mercedes van, going to the consulate and leaving the building at about the same time as Mr. Khashoggi was inside, also prompts investigators to examine the possibility that the journalist is alive or dead was hijacked, said two Turkish officials informed of the investigation.
"We can not be definitive," said one of the officials.
The Saudi authorities did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Tuesday.
"I assure you that the information that Jamal Khashoggi disappeared at the Istanbul consulate or that the authorities of the Kingdom arrested or murdered him is absolutely false and unfounded," said Prince Khalid bin Salman. , ambassador of Saudi Arabia to Washington. son of the Saudi monarch, said Monday night. "Our goal is to chase all leads to discover the truth behind his passing."
President Trump said on Tuesday that he has not yet spoken to the Saudi government about the disappearance of Mr. Khashoggi, but that he will talk to the Saudi authorities "at some point". He added, "I do not know anything."
The Turkish authorities believe that Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered in his country's consulate – an assertion refuted by the Saudi authorities. Gerald F. Seib of the WSJ explains the implications of the alleged murder of Mr. Khashoggi. Photo: Getty
The Trump administration has forged close ties with the kingdom – the president has chosen the country for his first visit abroad – and faces a difficult task: managing a diplomatic crisis involving a close ally.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, quoting "contradictory reports" on Mr. Khashoggi's fate, urged Saudi Arabia to support a thorough investigation "and to be transparent about the results of this investigation".
The Turkish Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that Saudi officials had agreed to an inspection of the consulate. A spokesman for the ministry said it had not happened yet.
It is not clear how much leeway Turkish investigators will have to search Saudi Arabia's diplomatic premises and whether they will be allowed to interrogate the staff of the consulate. The inspection could help clarify a sore spot: what monitoring equipment is installed inside the building.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday urged Saudi Arabia to release a video footage in support of their claim that Mr. Khashoggi left the consulate alive shortly after the documents were collected on 2 October.
Saudi officials said the consulate was equipped with surveillance cameras but was not linked to recording devices.
Despite the widespread denial of Saudi Arabia, Turkish investigators became convinced that Riyadh had played a role in Khashoggi's disappearance after tracing the paths of more than a dozen people who surrendered from the kingdom to Istanbul aboard two private jets on October 2nd.
After landing at Atatürk Airport, on the European side of the Turkish metropolis, the individuals went to the consulate of Saudi Arabia, according to the two Turkish officials. The Mercedes van was parked inside the residence compound when Mr. Khashoggi went inside, they said.
Later that day, the individuals, again in separate groups, returned to Atatürk airport, where they boarded the planes on which they had boarded, officials said. When the first jet took off shortly before 7 pm, Mr. Khashoggi 's fiancée, who was waiting in front of the consulate, had just sounded the alarm by calling an adviser to Mr. Erdogan. The second plane took off around 11 pm, officials said.
The aircraft carried the HZSK1 and HZSK2 tail numbers and carried Saudi officials and intelligence agents, according to Turkish newspaper Sabah, which quotes police and other unidentified sources. The newspaper said it had access to passenger lists but did not reveal names.
The Wall Street Journal-controlled flight tracking services show that planes carrying these tail numbers have returned to Riyadh on October 3, after making stopovers, one in Dubai and the other in Egypt. . The two Turkish officials confirmed that the jets bore these tail numbers.
The Saudi authorities have already forcibly returned suspected dissidents to the kingdom. In March, Loujain al-Hathloul, a prominent women's rights activist, was captured in Abu Dhabi by the UAE authorities. She then took the plane to go to Arabia, where she was banned from traveling and later arrested, according to someone close to the case.
She remains in prison and is accused of endangering national security. She is one of at least three Saudi citizens who have recently been repatriated to the kingdom with the help of local authorities.
The Saudi government has not responded to requests for comment on its forced repatriation.
In 2003, during the reign of King Fahd, a member of the Saudi royal family, Prince Sultan bin Turki, was abducted in Geneva, drugged and repatriated to Saudi Arabia. Prince Sultan, who spoke publicly about the kidnapping, had pleaded for political reform in the kingdom.
-Margherita Stancati in Dubai, Robert Wall in London and Rebecca Ballhaus in Washington contributed to this article.
Write to David Gauthier-Villars at [email protected]
