Turkey widens Khashoggi search, denies giving US tapes

Turkey on Friday widened the investigation into the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi after his visit to the Saudi consulate, searching a forest in the city.

Ankara also denied giving any audio recording to US officials from the investigation about Khashoggi, a former royal insider who moved to the United States after becoming a critic of the current House of Saud leadership.

The official told The Associated Press that police have established that two vehicles belonging to the consulate left the building on Oct. 2 — the day Khashoggi had walked into the consulate and vanished.

One of the vehicles traveled to the nearby Belgrade Forest while the other traveled to the city of Yalova, across the Sea of Marmara from Istanbul, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the secrecy of the ongoing investigation.

Turkish reports say Khashoggi was brutally murdered and dismembered inside the consulate by members of an assassination squad with ties to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The Saudis have dismissed those reports as baseless but have yet to explain what happened to Khashoggi, a columnist for The Washington Post who wrote critically of Prince Mohammed's rise to power.

President Donald Trump, who first came out hard on the Saudis over the disappearance but had since backed off, said Thursday that it "certainly looks" as though Khashoggi is dead, and that the consequences for the Saudis "will have to be very severe" if they are found to have killed him.

Saudi Arabia has not responded to repeated requests for comment from The Associated Press over recent days over Khashoggi's disappearance.

Turkish newspaper Yeni Şafak on Wednesday reported that an audio recording of Khashoggi's slaying suggests a Saudi team accosted him after he entered the consulate, cutting off his fingers and later decapitating him.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who visited Saudi Arabia and Turkey this week, told reporters on a plane to Mexico that he's neither seen nor heard such a recording. Citing an anonymous senior Turkish official, ABC News reported on Thursday that Pompeo heard the alleged recording during meetings in Turkey and received a transcript of it.

Also Friday, Sabah newspaper printed more surveillance camera photographs allegedly showing members of a Saudi team that was brought in to Turkey to dispose of Khashoggi.

A leaked surveillance photo published by the same paper on Thursday showed that a member of Prince Mohammed's entourage during several trips abroad had walked into the Saudi consulate, just before the writer disappeared there on Oct. 2.

The man, identified by Turkish officials as Maher Abdulaziz Mutreb, has been photographed in the background of Prince Mohammed's trips to the United States, France and Spain this year.

This week, Turkish crime-scene investigators searched the Saudi consul general's residence in Istanbul and carried out a second search of the consulate itself. Authorities have not said specifically what they found, although technicians carried out bags and boxes from the consul general's home. He left Turkey on Tuesday.

In related developments, senior government officials from the United States, France, Britain and the Netherlands cancelled out of an investment conference in Saudi Arabia amid questions over the kingdom's involvement in Khashoggi's disappearance.

The kingdom had hoped to use the event, due to be held in Riyadh on Oct. 23-25, to boost its global image. Several top business executives have also cancelled their plans to attend, as has the head of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde.

On Friday, Pakistan's foreign ministry said Prime Minister Imran Khan would travel to Saudi Arabia next week to attend the conference. It said Khan would also meet King Salman.

Khan has been trying to secure bailout loans from IMF to avoid an economic meltdown and is also seeking loans from Riyadh.

The controversy has already put the kingdom -- for decades a key Western ally and bulwark against Iran in the Middle East -- under unprecedented pressure amid reports it is scrambling to provide an explanation to take the heat off its rulers.

It is also a major crisis for Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, a favourite of the Trump administration who has portrayed himself as a modernising Arab reformer, but whose image and even position at home could now be gravely undermined.

- 'NO TAPE GIVEN' -
Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu did not reveal probe details but promised to share information in due course "in a transparent manner".

"It is out of the question for us to share this or that information with any country," he said during a visit to Albania's capital, Tirana.
The key potential piece of evidence in the investigation is an alleged audio tape whose existence has been reported by Turkish media. They say it proves Khashoggi was tortured and then killed.

ABC News on Thursday quoted an unnamed Turkish official saying US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo heard the audio tape and was shown a transcript of the recording during his visit to Ankara.

But Pompeo said he had neither "seen" nor "heard" a tape and had not read a transcript during the visit to Ankara where he held talks with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Çavuşoğlu.

Çavuşoğlu on Friday also denied the claims and said it was "out of the question for Turkey to give any kind of audio tape to Pompeo or any other US official".

Earlier Trump said he now believed Khashoggi was dead and warned of "very severe" consequences should Saudi Arabia be proven responsible.

"It certainly looks that way to me. It's very sad," Trump said when asked if he believed that Khashoggi is no longer alive.

- 'PREVENT WHITEWASH' -
The New York Times reported that Saudi leaders could blame General Ahmed al-Assiri, a top intelligence official close to the crown prince.

Previously US media said Saudis were preparing a report that Khashoggi's death resulted from a botched interrogation, in a bid to limit the global backlash against Riyadh and damage to the crown prince.

As Washington seeks to avoid a long-term rupture with its ally Riyadh, Pompeo told Trump the Saudis should be given "a few more days to complete" an official probe.

But four prominent human rights and press freedom groups urged Turkey to demand a United Nations investigation to prevent a "whitewash" of the alleged crime.

The furore has also blown a huge hole in next week's Future Investment Initiative conference in Riyadh. It was meant to showcase Prince Mohammed's plans for reform but has now been hit by a stream of big name cancellations including US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.