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The entrance to the consulate of Saudi Arabia in Istanbul, Tuesday, October 23, 2018. (Lefteris Pitarakis / AP)
Erin Cunningham
A reporter from the Middle East covering Iran, Turkey, Syria and the wider region
ISTANBUL – Turkish police received Wednesday permission from the Saudi authorities to search a well in the Istanbul consulate's garden, where Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi was killed earlier this month. reported the local media.
The Turkish state-run Turkish news agency originally said that Saudi officials had prevented investigators from inspecting the well as part of their investigation into Khashoggi's death. Later, the private news channel NTV reported that the police had received the authorization. It was difficult to know when the investigators asked for access to the garden. Police and police forensic teams searched the nearby consulate and consular residence in Istanbul's Levent district last week.
The Saudi and Turkish authorities have stated that Khashoggi, a writer and critic of the Saudi leadership, died inside the consulate on October 2, while he had entered to obtain documents for his next wedding. .
Turkey says Khashoggi's death is the result of a conspiracy plot involving senior Saudi officials and revealed to the press the main elements of the investigation.
Also on Wednesday, Turkish media reported that Saudi agents in consular vehicles had discovered the Belgrad Forest in Istanbul before Khashoggi's death. The report did not provide any source of information, but in a speech to legislators on Tuesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also said a Saudi team had made reconnaissance in nearby forested areas on 1 October.
Saudi Arabia has acknowledged Khashoggi's death inside the consulate, but claims that he was accidentally killed during a physical altercation with a team tasked with negotiating his return to the country. kingdom. Khashoggi lived in exile in the United States and planned to settle in Istanbul to marry his Turkish bride.
[Arab states fear Khashoggi case could trigger regional instability]
In a speech to Parliament Wednesday, British Prime Minister Theresa May said that the Saudi claim that Khashoggi died in a fight "is not a credible explanation" and that he remains " an urgent need "to establish what happened.
She said the UK would take action against "all suspects" to prevent them from entering Britain, as a result of the US decision to revoke visas from Saudi suspects on Tuesday.
"If these people currently have visas, these will be revoked today," said May, adding that she will be speaking to Saudi King Salman next Wednesday.
"We are determined not to conceal this murder and to ensure that all those responsible – those who ordered it to those who committed it – will not be allowed to escape justice," he said. Erdogan said Wednesday in Ankara, news agencies reported.
Morris brought back from London.
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