Turkey has demanded that Saudi Arabia allow police to search the Istanbul consulate where a prominent Saudi journalist disappeared last week, a Turkish official said, as the US called for a “thorough investigation”. Yasin Aktay, an advisor to the Turkish president, said Saudi Arabia had not yet agreed to let investigators search the facility as part of their investigation into the fate of Jamal Khashoggi. Mr Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist who criticised the Saudi government, has not been seen since last Tuesday, when he entered the consulate to file paperwork. Turkish officials have said privately they believe Mr Khashoggi was murdered and dismembered inside the consulate but Turkey’s government has not publicly made the explosive accusation. Donald Trump, in the first expression of concern by his administration on Mr Khashoggi's disappearance, said he was troubled by reports about the journalist's fate. “I am concerned about it. I don't like hearing about it. And hopefully that will sort itself out. Right now nobody knows anything about it, but there are some pretty bad stories going around. I do not like it,” the US president said. Jamal Khashoggi has not been seen since last Tuesday Credit: AP Photo/Hasan Jamali, File Mike Pompeo, US Secretary of State, later called for a thorough and open probe by Saudi Arabia into Mr Khashoggi's disappearance. “We call on the government of Saudi Arabia to support a thorough investigation of Mr Khashoggi's disappearance and to be transparent about the results of that investigation,” Mr Pompeo said in a statement, adding they had seen “conflicting reports”. Saudi Arabia has insisted Mr Khashoggi left the consulate on Tuesday and that the Saudi government had nothing to do with his disappearance. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey's president, challenged Saudi officials to prove their claim that Mr Khashoggi had left the consulate. “Consulate officials cannot save themselves by saying that he left the building,” Mr Erdogan said. “If he left, you have to prove it with footage.” “The Turkish authorities have demanded to be allowed to search inside the consulate but they are still waiting for a response from the Saudi side,” Mr Aktay told The Telegraph. Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, said last week his country had “nothing to hide” and would not object to a search of the consulate. The Saudi consul-general allowed journalists into the consulate but police have yet to search the facility for forensic evidence. Mr Aktay said he did not know whether Mr Khashoggi had been murdered. “I can confirm he entered the consulate and he didn’t come out. Everything is possible: either he was killed, or he was extracted from the consulate, or something else.” Turkish investigators are looking at a group of 15 Saudi nationals who landed in Istanbul on private jets on the day of Mr Khashoggi’s disappearance and left the country immediately after, Mr Aktay said. Mohammed bin Salman has said his country “has nothing to hide” Credit: REUTERS/Amir Levy/File Photo Investigators are focusing on two black vans with Saudi diplomatic plates which left the consulate shortly after Mr Khashoggi entered the building, according to the Sabah newspaper. The vans may have been used to move Mr Khashoggi or his body. The Washington Post called on the US government to “demand answers” from Saudi Arabia about Mr Khashoggi’s disappearance and urged Turkey to make public any evidence it has of murder. The US State Department has said it is following the case but gave no indication it was putting pressure on Saudi Arabia. Mr Aktay said Turkey would make an official declaration “very soon” but that first the investigation must be completed. The Foreign Office called the murder allegations “extremely serious” and said it was “working urgently to establish the facts”. The pro-Saudi al-Arabiya site published an interview with Motasem Khashoggi, a relative of the journalist, who said the family had “trust” in the Saudi government and its handling of the case. He accused foreign media of using his brother’s disappearance to “attack our country for negative purposes”. Many supporters of Crown Prince Mohammed have made similar claims online, saying the case was part of a Muslim Brotherhood plot to damage Saudi Arabia.
