* Photographs: Şebnem Coşkun, Salih Zeki Fazlıoğlu - İstanbul / AA
Click to read the article in Turkish
The security forces were not allowed to enter the residence of the Consul General of Saudi Arabia in İstanbul, which was planned to be searched and examined as part of the investigation that has been launched after the Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi has gone missing.
Since the Consul General left Turkey and went back to Saudi Arabia yesterday (October 16), the police could not contact authorities from Saudi Arabia and could not carry out an examination and search in the residence.
Shortly after the Consulate General of the country was searched yesterday, the Associated Press (AP) reported, "Police searching the Saudi Consulate found evidence that Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi was killed there, a high-level Turkish official said on Tuesday."
Residence could not be searched
The police conducted a search at the Consulate General of Saudi Arabia in İstanbul yesterday. Journalist Jamal Khashoggi was last seen on October 2, 2018 at around 1 a.m. while entering the consulate building.
CLICK - Last Image of Jamal Khashoggi Published
The residence of the Consul General Muhammed al Utaybi, which is located 500 meters from the Consulate General, was also going to be searched.
At 6.30 p.m. yesterday, the street, where the residence is located, was closed with police barriers and crime scene investigation teams approached the residence. However, the authorities from Saudi Arabia, who previously accompanied the police during the search activities in the consulate, broke off contact with the authorities of Turkey.
Since no permission could be received to conduct an examination or search in the residence, the residence could not be searched and the police barriers were removed at around 11.30 p.m.
It has been reported that the Consul General of Saudi Arabi Muhammed al Utaybi went to the capital city of Riyadh with a plane of Saudi Arabian Airlines before his residence was to be searched. His wife and three children did not accompany al Utaybi and stayed in İstanbul.
What happened?
The whereabouts of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who has been a columnist at Washington Post newspaper and a citizen of Saudi Arabia, has not been known since October 2, 2018 at 1 a.m., when he was last seen while entering the Consulate General of Saudi Arabia in İstanbul.
Reuters news agency and journalists from Turkey as well as the Chair of Turkish-Arabic Media Association Turan Kışlakçı claimed that Khashoggi was killed and his body was taken out of the consulate.
Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Hami Aksoy announced that the officials in the General Consulate of Saudi Arabia accepted the request of Turkey to make an investigation at the consulate.
The İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office also assigned a deputy chief prosecutor and a chief public prosecutor to conduct the judicial processes in the investigation that has been launched by Turkey after the journalist, who has allegedly been killed, was reported to be missing. (AS/SD)
