Saudis yet to cooperate in Khashoggi probe: Turkish foreign minister

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu says Saudi Arabia is not cooperating with the investigation into the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi, a dissident Saudi journalist who is suspected of being killed during a visit to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul earlier this month.

"We have not yet seen cooperation on this subject and we want to see it," Cavusoglu told reporters during a visit to London on Saturday.

He said that the Saudi government must allow Turkish officials to enter its Istanbul consulate to probe Khashoggi’s disappearance.

The Turkish foreign minister said that there was a consensus on forming a joint working group with Saudi officials over the case of Khashoggi, who has not been seen since entering the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on October 2.

He made the remarks two days after a Saudi delegation including senior royal Prince Khaled al-Faisal arrived in Turkey for a joint investigation into the case.

International pressure mounts on Saudi Arabia as Riyadh has failed to prove it is not behind the disappearance of the government supporter-turned-critic.

PressTV-'Turkish officials have proof of Khashoggi assassination'

Turkish officials have evidence proving Jamal Khashoggi was assassinated in Turkey by Saudi operatives.

Turkey's investigation into the disappearance of Khashoggi has revealed recordings made on his Apple Watch, which synced with his iPhone being carried outside the consulate by Khashoggi's fiancée.

The recordings purportedly indicated that the prominent Saudi journalist was tortured and killed at the kingdom's consulate in Istanbul, according to the Turkish Sabah daily.

Senior Turkish officials have previously been quoted as saying that Khashoggi was wearing a black Apple watch when he entered the consulate and that it was connected to a mobile phone he left outside.

Sabah cited "reliable sources in a special intelligence department" as saying that Khashoggi is believed to have turned on the recording feature on the phone before entering the consulate.

According to the paper, Saudi intelligence agents had realized after the killing that the phone was recording and they used Khashoggi finger print to unlock it, deleting some files but not all of them.

The recordings were subsequently found on his phone, the paper said.

Khashoggi, a Virginia-based critic of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s policies, entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2 for some paperwork regarding his divorce, but never exited the mission.

News of his disappearance broke out after Khashoggi’s Turkish fiancée, who was waiting outside the diplomatic building, called the police.

The Washington Post, to which Khashoggi contributed as a columnist, has said the Turkish government had told US officials it had audio and video recordings showing how Khashoggi was "interrogated, tortured and then murdered" by a 15-member Saudi security team inside the consulate before his body was dismembered.

The suspected assassins had made a mysterious one-day trip from Riyadh to Istanbul the day Khashoggi vanished at the consulate.

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