Turkey says Saudi not cooperating as US threatens 'punishment'

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02:07

Turkey on Saturday accused Saudi Arabia of failing to cooperate with a probe into the disappearance of a journalist inside its Istanbul consulate, as US President Donald Trump threatened "severe punishment" if it turns out he was killed.

Comments by Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu represented a hardening of Ankara's hitherto circumspect tone over the case of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who has not been seen since he stepped inside the consulate on October 2.

Turkish officials have said they believe Khashoggi was killed inside the consulate and lurid claims have been leaked to media that he was tortured and even dismembered, while Trump has also struck a pessimistic tone about the missing journalist's fate.

Saudi Arabia insists Khashoggi, a Washington Post contributor whose writings have been critical of Riyadh, left the building safely but has yet to offer visual evidence of this.

In happier times: Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi is seen with his Turkish fiancee Hatice Cengiz. /Photo via Twitter @AssirNajwah

Opinions: Khashoggi's disappearance underlines Turkey-Saudi tensions

The outcry surrounding his disappearance threatens to not just harm brittle Turkey-Saudi relations but also alarm the kingdom's supporters in the West and tarnish the reform drive spearheaded by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

"We're going to get to the bottom of it and there will be severe punishment," Trump told CBS's "60 Minutes," according to an extract of an interview that was released on Saturday.

"As of this moment, they (Saudi) deny it and they deny it vehemently. Could it be them? Yes," Trump said in the interview, which was conducted on Thursday.

At the White House on Saturday, Trump said that "nobody knows what happened" at the moment, and reiterated that he does not want potential repercussions for Saudi Arabia to include limitations on arms sales.

"I actually think we'd be punishing ourselves if we did that. There are other things we can do that are very, very powerful, very strong," Trump said, without providing specifics.

Speaking about Khashoggi's fate, Trump said: "Our first hope was that he was not killed, but maybe that's not looking too good ... from what we're hearing."

'We want cooperation'

The shadow of a security guard is seen on the entrance door of the Saudi Arabia's consulate in Istanbul, October 12, 2018. /VCG Photo

Ankara had said that a search of the consulate had been agreed but this has yet to materialize amid reports the two sides are at odds over the conditions of entry into what is Saudi sovereign territory.

"We still have not seen cooperation in order to ensure a smooth investigation and bring everything to light. We want to see this," Cavusoglu said. He said Riyadh must let Turkish "prosecutors and experts enter the consulate" to carry out their investigation.

A Saudi delegation was in Turkey and due to have talks this weekend in Ankara and take part in a working group on the disappearance, official Turkish media said. It is likely that they will take part in a joint working group on the case, whose creation was announced on Thursday by Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin following a request by Saudi Arabia.

In a media statement issued by the Saudi Ministry of Media, Riyadh said Turkey has agreed to create a joint investigation team to probe the mysterious case.

"Saudi Arabia welcomed the announcement by the Turkish presidency that it had approved of the kingdom's request to form a joint team of experts (representing both countries) to investigate the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi citizen, in Istanbul," the statement said citing an unnamed Saudi official.

"The official expressed appreciation for this progressive step. He said he was fully confident of the team's ability to accomplish the mission," the statement said, adding: "He said the kingdom attached utmost priority to its citizens' safety and security irrespective of their location."

Pro-government Turkish newspaper Sabah said the search of the consulate had not yet happened because Saudi officials would only allow a superficial "visual" probe.

The Turkish side did not accept the offer and Sabah said officials wanted to search the building with luminol, a chemical that allows forensic teams to discover blood traces.

'Recorded by Apple watch'

A tweet from missing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi's fiance Hatice Cengiz on the Saudi journalist's 60th birthday. /Photo via Twitter @mercan_resifi

Khashoggi's fiancee Hatice Cengiz, a rare Turkish expert on Oman, who was waiting outside the consulate when he went inside to sort out marriage paperwork, urged Riyadh on Twitter to "officially reveal what happened" to him.

She said Saturday marked the 60th birthday of Khashoggi and she had previously planned "a surprise party" in Istanbul by the Bosphorus.

Saudi Interior Minister Prince Abdel Aziz bin Saud bin Nayef slammed claims that the kingdom ordered Khashoggi to be killed inside the consulate as "baseless allegations and lies."

Ankara has so far trodden carefully in the controversy, with the most sensational allegations splashed in the pro-government press, while President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has so far stopped short of directly accusing Riyadh of wrongdoing.

Turkey and Saudi Arabia have an uneasy relationship, with disputes over the ousting of the Islamist government in Egypt and the blockade imposed on Ankara's ally Qatar.

The latest claims reported by the pro-government Turkish Sabah daily said that Khashoggi had been wearing an Apple Watch when he entered the consulate which was synced with an iPhone left outside with his fiancee.

It said that the watch had recorded what happened inside the consulate and this was uploaded to his cloud, although Saudis sought to partially delete it.

"The moments of Khashoggi's questioning, torture and killing were recorded on the Apple watch," said Sabah.

Milliyet daily reported that "arguments and shouting" could be heard on the recordings, but Sozcu newspaper said only "some conversations" could be heard.

Analysts say that Turkey is hoping to find support from its NATO ally the United States in the case, although Ankara and Washington have been in crisis over the detention for the last two years of a Protestant pastor.

But the pastor, Andrew Brunson, was freed on Friday and allowed to fly home by a Turkish court, in a move that could help normalize ties.

IMF chief 'horrified'

Ibrahim al-Assaf (right), the then Saudi Finance Minister, escorts International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Christine Lagarde to a press conference following a meeting with Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) finance ministers in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, October 26, 2016. /VCG Photo

Related story: Virgin's Branson halts talks on $1 billion Saudi investment in space ventures

As the unabated mystery over Khashoggi's fate continues, political and business leaders from around the world have voiced concerns, with many demanding an explanation from Saudi Arabia. The US initially stayed relatively quiet, but pressure for a more robust response is increasing as lawmakers called for a probe into the Saudi journalist's fate.

UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt has explicitly tied the importance of human rights to alliances, tweeting on Tuesday that if media reports about Khashoggi "prove correct, we will treat the incident seriously - friendships depend on shared values."

Meanwhile, IMF chief Christine Lagarde said Saturday she was "horrified" by the reports of the alleged murder but still plans to attend an economic meeting in Riyadh this month even as World Bank President Jim Yong Kim and some big business names and media outlets have pulled out of the Kingdom's second Future Investment Initiative.

"Human rights, freedom of information are essential rights and horrifying things have been reported and I am horrified," Lagarde told reporters in Bali where the IMF is holding annual meetings.

"But I have to conduct the business of the IMF in all corners in the world and with many governments."

Bloomberg, the Financial Times, The Economist and The New York Times withdrew as media sponsors from the Future Investment Initiative to be held between Oct. 23-25 in Riyadh, dubbed "Davos in the Desert" after the World Economic Forum in the Swiss resort.

(Cover: Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, the then general manager of Alarab TV, looks on during a press conference in the Bahraini capital Manama, December 15, 2014. /VCG Photo)

Source(s): AFP