Turkey Seeks Explanation From Saudi Arabia on Missing Journalist

(Bloomberg) -- Turkey summoned Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Ankara to explain what’s happened to journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi government critic who disappeared after entering the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul this week, state-run Anadolu news agency reported Thursday.

In a statement on Twitter, the Saudi consulate said it was “following news stories” about Khashoggi and is in coordination with Turkish authorities to “uncover the facts behind his going missing after exiting” the consulate building. The Turkish government says there’s no sign he ever left.

“This Saudi citizen is still inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, according to the information we have,” Ibrahim Kalin, spokesman for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said late Wednesday after the Saudi ambassador went to Turkey’s Foreign Ministry. “I hope this issue will be resolved smoothly.”

Khashoggi, a contributor to the Washington Post who had been living in voluntary exile, was accompanied by his Turkish fiancee to the consulate around 1 p.m. on Tuesday, where he sought to obtain a document necessary for them to marry. The woman, who asked to be identified only as Hatice, said she waited for him until 1 a.m., even after being told there was no one left inside the building, then began alerting others to his disappearance.

To contact the reporters on this story: Selcan Hacaoglu in Ankara at shacaoglu@bloomberg.net;Taylan Bilgic in Istanbul at tbilgic2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Benjamin Harvey at bharvey11@bloomberg.net, Amy Teibel, Cagan Koc

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