Saudis insist missing Post contributor left Turkey consulate
ISTANBUL — Saudi Arabia’s Consulate in Istanbul insisted Thursday that a missing Saudi contributor to The Washington Post left its building before disappearing, directly contradicting Turkish officials who say they believe the writer is still inside.
The comments further deepen the mystery surrounding what happened to Jamal Khashoggi, who had been living in self-imposed exile in the U.S. while writing columns critical of the kingdom and its policies under upstart Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Khashoggi’s disappearance also threatened to further harm relations between Turkey and Saudi Arabia, which are on opposite sides of an ongoing fournation boycott of Qatar and other regional crises. Turkey summoned the Saudi ambassador to its Foreign Ministry on Thursday over the writer’s disappearance, said an official who requested anonymity in line with government rules.
In a statement carried by the state-run Saudi Press Agency, the consulate did not challenge that Khashoggi, 59, had disappeared while on a visit to the diplomatic post.
“The consulate confirmed that it is carrying out followup procedures and co-ordination with the Turkish local authorities to uncover the circumstances of the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi after he left the consulate building,” the statement said, without elaborating.
A spokesman for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told reporters Wednesday that authorities believed the journalist is still there.
“According to the information we have, this person who is a Saudi citizen is still at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul,” Ibrahim Kalin said. “We don’t have information to the contrary.”
On Tuesday, Khashoggi entered the consulate to get paperwork he needed in order to be married next week, said his fiancée Hatice, who gave only her first name for fear of retribution. He gave her his mobile phones for safekeeping, something common as embassies throughout the Middle East routinely require phones to be left outside as a security precaution.
Hours later, Hatice said she called Khashoggi’s friends in a panic when he never emerged.
“I don’t know what has happened to him. I can’t even guess how such a thing can happen to him,” his fiancée told The Associated Press. “There is no law or lawsuit against him. He is not a suspect, he has not been convicted. There is nothing against him. He is just a man whose country doesn’t like his writings or his opinions.”
The Post said it was “extremely concerned” about Khashoggi.
“We have reached out to anyone we think might be able to help locate him and assure his safety, including U.S., Turkish and Saudi officials,” the Post’s editorial page editor Fred Hiatt said in a statement.
The State Department said it was aware of Khashoggi’s disappearance and was seeking more information. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke by telephone Wednesday with Prince Mohammed, but it was unclear if the writer’s case came up in their conversation.
Khashoggi is a longtime Saudi journalist, foreign correspondent, editor and columnist whose work has been controversial in the past in the ultraconservative Sunni kingdom. He went into self-imposed exile in the United States following the ascension of Prince Mohammed, now next in line to succeed his father, the 82-year-old King Salman.