Turkish president says Saudi officials planned murder of Saudi writer days before his death

Saudi officials murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi in their Istanbul consulate after plotting his death for days, Turkey’s president said Tuesday, contradicting Saudia Arabia’s explanation that the writer was accidentally killed. He demanded that the kingdom reveal the identities of all involved, regardless of rank.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also said he wants Saudi Arabia to allow 18 suspects that it detained for the Saudi’s killing to be tried in Turkish courts, setting up further complications with the Saudi government, which has said it is conducting its own investigation and will punish those involved.

“To blame such an incident on a handful of security and intelligence members would not satisfy us or the international community,” Erdogan said in a speech to ruling party lawmakers in parliament.

“Saudi Arabia has taken an important step by admitting the murder. As of now we expect of them to openly bring to light those responsible – from the highest ranked to the lowest – and to bring them to justice,” the Turkish president said.

Erdogan’s speech was previously pitched as revealing the “naked truth” about Khashoggi’s slaying. Instead it served merely to put a named source to information already circulated by anonymous officials and the Turkish press in the days since the columnist for The Washington Post walked into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

However, he kept pressure on the kingdom with his demands for Turkish prosecution of the suspects as well as punishment for the plot’s masterminds.

“All evidence gathered shows that Jamal Khashoggi was the victim of a savage murder. To cover up such a savagery would hurt the human conscience,” he said.

Erdogan didn’t mention Saudi Arabia’s assertive Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in his speech, though officials linked to the royal have been implicated in the killing. The kingdom has said the heir-apparent of the world’s top oil exporter was not involved, but any major decision must be signed off by the highest powers within its ruling Al Saud family.

International skepticism has intensified since Saudi Arabia said on Saturday that Khashoggi died in a brawl. The case has shocked the world and raised suspicions that a Saudi hit squad planned Khashoggi’s killing after he walked into the consulate on Oct. 2, and then attempted to cover it up.

Before Erdogan’s announcement, top Turkish officials said Turkey would clarify exactly what happened to Khashoggi and a stream of leaks to national and international media has increased pressure on Saudi Arabia, which is hosting a glitzy investment conference this week that many dignitaries have decided to skip because of the scandal.

Saudi Arabia said it arrested suspects and that several top intelligence officials were fired over the killing, but critics alleged that the punishment was designed to absolve Prince Mohammed of any responsibility.

On Monday, leaked surveillance video showed a man strolling out of the diplomatic post hours after Khashoggi disappeared into the consulate, apparently wearing the columnist’s clothes as part of a macabre deception to sow confusion over his fate.

The new video broadcast by CNN, as well as a pro-government Turkish newspaper’s report that a member of Prince Mohammed’s entourage made four calls to the royal’s office from the consulate around the same time, put more pressure on the kingdom. Meanwhile, Turkish crime-scene investigators swarmed a garage Monday night in Istanbul where a Saudi consular vehicle had been parked.

Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister, meanwhile, said Tuesday the investigation into the killing of Khashoggi would produce the truth about what happened and that his country was committed to ensuring “that the investigation is thorough and complete and that the truth is revealed and that those responsible will be held to account.”

Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir, in Indonesia, also pledged that mechanisms will be put in place so that “something like this can never happen again.” </s> Turkish prosecutor's office says it is 'obliged' to reveal the details about the murder of Khashoggi after the talks with Saudi Arabia's chief prosecutor produced 'no concrete results'

ISTANBUL, Turkey – Journalist Jamal Khashoggi was strangled as soon as he entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul and then dismembered as part of a premeditated plan, Turkey's chief prosecutor said Wednesday, October 31, making details of the murder public for the first time.

The revelations came just hours after Saudi Arabia's chief prosecutor left Istanbul, and the Turkish prosecutor's office said it was "obliged" to reveal the details after the talks produced "no concrete results".

Gruesome reports in the Turkish media had previously alleged that Khashoggi, a 59-year-old Washington Post contributor critical of the powerful Saudi crown prince, had been killed and cut into pieces by a team sent from Riyadh to silence him. His body has not been found.

"In accordance with plans made in advance, the victim, Jamal Khashoggi, was strangled to death immediately after entering the Consulate General of Saudi Arabia in Istanbul on October 2, 2018 for marriage formalities," said a statement from the office of Istanbul chief prosecutor Irfan Fidan.

"The victim's body was dismembered and destroyed following his death by suffocation – again, in line with advance plans," it added.

"Despite our well-intentioned efforts to reveal the truth, no concrete results have come out of those meetings."

Riyadh sent the head of its investigation to Istanbul this week seeking to draw a line under a crisis that has brought near unprecedented scrutiny on Saudi Arabia.

However a senior Turkish official said earlier Wednesday that Saudi officials seemed "primarily interested in finding out what evidence Turkey had against the perpetrators".

"We did not get the impression that they were keen on genuinely cooperating with the investigation," the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

After arriving on Sunday, Saudi Arabia's Attorney General Sheikh Saud al-Mojeb met with Fidan twice, visited the consulate and spoke with Turkey's MIT intelligence agency.

He flew out of Istanbul on Wednesday afternoon without making a public statement.

After initially insisting Khashoggi left the consulate unharmed, then saying he died in a brawl during an interview gone wrong, the Saudi regime has since admitted he was killed by a "rogue operation" and arrested 18 people.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has urged the Saudi regime to reveal the location of Khashoggi's body and who ordered the hit.

Erdogan has also called on Riyadh reveal the identity of local "co-conspirators" that media reports claimed had disposed of Khashoggi's body.

However Mojeb said that Saudi authorities had made no such statement about local collaborators, the Istanbul prosecutor's office said.

The Saudi prosector's office meanwhile invited Fidan and his delegation to Riyadh "along with the evidence they have obtained", it added.

'Truth needs to come out'

The case has sorely strained relations between the ultra-conservative kingdom and the West.

France said Wednesday that "not enough" was being done to find those responsible for the murder of Khashoggi, who was an insider in Saudi royal circles before going into self-imposed exile in the United States last year.

"This crime has to be punished and the perpetrators identified. The truth needs to come out," Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said.

In an editorial published Tuesday, the Washington Post accused Riyadh of "deflecting questions by pretending to investigate" the murder.

It said the administration of US President Donald Trump was "playing along" and "pretending to believe that the Saudis can conduct a credible probe – even though a chief suspect is the kingdom's own autocratic ruler".

The editorial also urged the US Congress to impose sanctions on those responsible – "including, if the available evidence points to him, Mohammed bin Salman – and reshape US relations with Saudi Arabia".

The affair has tarnished the image of the crown prince, who has positioned himself as a Saudi reformer. He has denounced the murder as "repulsive" and strongly denied any involvement.

Trump meanwhile has called the case "one of the worst cover-ups in history", but warned against halting a Saudi arms deal, saying it would harm US jobs.

However relations between the long-time allies have cooled after the murder and on Tuesday Washington called for a ceasefire and peace talks in Yemen, where the US has faced fierce international criticism for supporting a Saudi-led coalition.

Pentagon chief Jim Mattis said the US had been watching the conflict, in which nearly 10,000 people have been killed, "for long enough". – Rappler.com </s> RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — In a fiery and unwavering appearance Wednesday at an investment forum, Saudi Arabia's crown prince called the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi "heinous" and "painful to all Saudis," before warning anyone against trying to "manipulate" the crisis and drive a wedge between the kingdom and Turkey.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was joined onstage by two Arab allies as he made his first extensive public remarks about the killing that has sparked widespread condemnation and marred his international standing after Turkish reports said a member of his entourage was involved in the crime.

Many international business leaders pulled out of the Future Investment Initiative, the kingdom's main economic forum, after the Oct. 2 killing of The Washington Post columnist inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.

But in the forum's vast and ornate auditorium, thousands of people who did attend rose to their feet to applaud the 33-year-old heir whose strong showing underscored his reputation for being bold and assertive.

Prince Mohammed, who spoke with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan by phone before the forum, addressed the case immediately after taking the stage for a panel discussion, saying the Saudis were cooperating with Turkey on the Khashoggi investigation.

"The situation that took place is very painful to all Saudis, especially because it was a Saudi citizen. And I suspect it is painful to anyone in the whole world," Prince Mohammed said.

"It is a heinous act that is unjustifiable," he added, before cautioning anyone who might try "to manipulate the situation" and sow division between Riyadh and Ankara.

"I have a message for them: They will not be able to do that as long as there is a king called Salman bin Abdul-Aziz and a crown prince called Mohammed bin Salman in Saudi, and a president in Turkey called Erdogan," he said to applause.

Erdogan on Tuesday delivered a sharp rebuttal of Saudi Arabia's widely criticized account that the dissident writer died accidentally in a brawl, saying Saudi officials had planned the killing for days.

He kept up the pressure Wednesday, saying in Ankara: "We are determined not to allow the murder to be covered up and for those responsible — from the person who gave the order to those who executed it — not to escape justice."

Erdogan has said that 15 Saudi officials arrived in Istanbul shortly before Khashoggi's death and that a man, apparently dressed in the writer's clothes, acted as a possible decoy by walking out of the consulate on the day of the disappearance.

Turkish officials say the 15 men comprised a Saudi hit squad that included a member of Prince Mohammed's entourage on overseas trips. Saudi Arabia has suggested, without offering evidence, that the team went rogue. It has arrested 18 Saudis and fired five top officials, some of whom worked directly under the crown prince.

Turkish media have published a security camera image showing a vehicle belonging to the Saudi Consulate purportedly scouting a forest in the outskirts of Istanbul before the killing.

The killing of the 59-year-old Khashoggi has created an international firestorm as suspicion mounts that the crown prince had a hand in the killing.

"Well, the prince is running things over there more so at this stage. He's running things and so if anybody were going to be, it would be him," President Donald Trump was quoted telling the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday.

Khashoggi, who lived in self-imposed exile in the U.S. for nearly a year before his death, had written critically of the young prince's crackdown on dissent. Dozens of Saudi activists, writers, clerics and even women who were behind calls for the right to drive have been detained.

King Salman and Prince Mohammed met Tuesday with Khashoggi's son, Salah, and his brother, Sahel, at the Yamama Palace, where the royals expressed their condolences, according to state-run Saudi news, which distributed photos of the event. A friend of the Khashoggi family told The Associated Press that Salah has been under a travel ban since last year. The individual spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing reprisal.

The crisis overshadowed the crown prince's high-profile economic forum, aimed at raising much needed investments to underwrite his plans to overhaul the Saudi economy.

After the killing, many international business leaders and Western officials pulled out of the forum, including the CEOs of JPMorgan Chase, Uber, Siemens and Blackrock. Western media outlets withdrew as partners for the event.

Instead, the forum spotlighted how the kingdom's regional allies have rushed to rally behind the crown prince.

On stage with him was Bahrain's Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa and Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad Hariri, who abruptly resigned his post last year during a strange visit to Saudi Arabia in which many people suspected that he was held against his will. Hariri returned to Lebanon and to his post later that year after French mediation and has visited Saudi Arabia and met with the crown prince since then.

The crown prince even joked about the incident at the forum, saying Hariri would be in Saudi Arabia this time for two days.

"So please, no one say that he is kidnapped," Prince Mohammed said, before turning to Hariri and pumping his hand as the crowd erupted in laughter.

The summit also drew Dubai's ruler, Jordan's king and Pakistan's prime minister. Pakistan, which is grappling with a soaring deficit, struck a deal on the sidelines of the forum with Saudi Arabia for $6 billion in aid from the oil-rich kingdom.

Some $55 billion in agreements were signed at the forum, much of that focused on the lucrative Saudi energy industry. Saudi Arabia is one of the world's largest exporters of oil, has the Arab world's largest economy and is a key emerging market.

Rather than cancel their participation altogether, some companies sent midlevel executives. Outside the hall, hushed conversations over coffee and dates took place, with a flurry of business cards exchanged.

Several participants from the U.S., including a California hedge fund manager and staff from a U.S. desalination company, declined to speak to the AP, reflecting a general nervousness among the Americans.

"This experience has given everyone pause ... to stop, get our breath, take stock and then figure out the most appropriate way forward," David Hamod, president and CEO of the National U.S.-Arab Chamber of Commerce, told the AP.

"At the end of the day, many American companies have stakeholders and shareholders to which they need to be very sensitive. So they will listen to those stakeholders and shareholders," Hamod said.

"But timing is everything. A fair number of U.S. companies didn't make the trip, as you know, and that's an issue of timing," he said, adding that he believes the relationship will be "very positive" in the long term.

Associated Press writer Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey; Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Zarar Khan in Islamabad; Malak Harb in Riyadh; and Jan M. Olsen in Copenhagen, Denmark, contributed. </s> ISTANBUL — Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was strangled as soon as he entered the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul as part of a premeditated killing, and his body was dismembered before it was removed, a top Turkish prosecutor said Wednesday.

Chief Istanbul prosecutor Irfan Fidan’s office also said in a statement that discussions with Saudi chief prosecutor Saud al-Mojeb over the killing yielded “no concrete result” despite Turkey’s “good-intentioned efforts to reveal the truth.”

The statement was the first public confirmation by a Turkish official that Khashoggi was strangled and mutilated after he entered the Saudi Consulate on Oct. 2. It also pointed to a lack of cooperation from Saudi officials in the investigation of the slaying.

“In accordance with plans made in advance, the victim, Jamal Khashoggi, was strangled and killed immediately after entering the Consulate General of Saudi Arabia,” the prosecutor’s office said.

“The victim Jamal Khashoggi’s body was dismembered and destroyed following his death by suffocation, again in line with the advance plans,” the two-page statement read.

The prosecutor’s statement that Khashoggi was killed immediately conflicts with a report by pro-government newspaper Yeni Safak earlier this month, which cited what it described as an audio recording of Khashoggi being tortured before being killed. The newspaper claimed that his fingers were cut off and that he was killed by being beheaded.

Turkey is seeking the extradition of 18 suspects in the journalist’s slaying who were detained in Saudi Arabia. It also is pressing Saudi Arabia for information about who ordered Khashoggi’s killing and the location of his remains.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called on Riyadh to disclose the identity of an alleged local collaborator said to have been involved in getting rid of Khashoggi’s body.

Saudi chief prosecutor al-Mojeb met with Fidan twice and also visited the Turkish intelligence agency’s Istanbul headquarters this week before leaving for Riyadh on a private jet Wednesday.

Saudi Arabia has not commented directly on the prosecutor’s visit and al-Mojeb did not respond to journalists’ questions at the airport as he departed.

Fidan’s office said the Saudi delegation submitted a written statement and invited the Turkish delegation to come to Saudi Arabia bringing “evidence obtained during the course of the investigation.”

The Saudi representatives said the whereabouts of Khashoggi’s remains and whether the killing was premeditated or not would only come to light through a joint interrogation by Turkish and Saudi investigators, according to the statement.

The statement said Turkey renewed its request for the 18 suspects to be extradited. It did not say if Turkish officials would travel to Saudi Arabia.

On Wednesday, a lawmaker and spokesman for Turkey’s ruling party again called on Saudi Arabia to reveal where Khashoggi’s body is, who gave the orders for the killing and who the alleged Turkish collaborator is.

“Instead of trying to find out what (evidence) Turkey has, Saudi authorities should give the answers to these questions,” Omer Celik told reporters. “This is not an incident that could have taken place without a high-level order.”

Celik added: “We are not blaming anyone in advance but we will not allow anything to be covered up.”

Khashoggi, a 59-year-old columnist for The Washington Post, vanished after entering the consulate in Istanbul to pick up paperwork he needed for his upcoming marriage. His Turkish fiancee was waiting for him outside. A critic of the Saudi crown prince, Khashoggi had been living in exile in the United States.

Turkey alleges a hit squad from Saudi Arabia — including a member of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s entourage during a trip to the United States— went to Istanbul to kill the journalist and then tried to cover it up.

Under mounting pressure, Saudi Arabia changed its narrative about Khashoggi’s killing several times, eventually admitting Khashoggi died inside the consulate. Saudi Arabia only recently acknowledged Turkish evidence showed the slaying was premeditated.

Hurriyet newspaper columnist Abdulkadir Selvi, who is known to be close to the Turkish government, said the Saudi prosecutor revealed nothing new to Turkish investigators during his three-day visit and left with several questions unanswered.

“Rather than share the information he has, the Saudi prosecutor tried to learn what information and evidence Turkey has in its hands,” Selvi wrote Wednesday.

He added: “The chief prosecutor is not trying to shed light on the murder, he is trying to save the crown prince.” </s> Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday that the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was "savagely planned" by the Saudis.

Erdogan in a speech to Turkey's Parliament laid out a timeline of events from the moment a team of Saudis arrived in Istanbul for what he said was the intentional killing of Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist critical of the Saudi government who disappeared after going into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2.

"The information and evidence we have gathered until now shows that Khashoggi was the victim of a murder which was savagely planned,” Erdogan said.

Khashoggi, who has been living in the U.S., went missing after visiting the consulate for documents he needed to marry his fiancé, Hatice Cengiz. His disappearance set off an international uproar.

Saudi officials at first denied involvement, saying Khashoggi had left the consulate through the back door. That explanation has since evolved to Saudi officials' saying that Khashoggi was killed unintentionally in the consulate when he was put in a chokehold.

Erdogan said Tuesday that the 18 individuals whom Saudi officials identified late last week as having being involved in Khashoggi's death are the same whom a Turkish investigation has found to be responsible, Erdogan said.

The Turkish president didn't mention the audio recording that Turkish media said had recorded Khashoggi's murder. He also didn't present any physical evidence from the investigation.

Erdogan said Saudi Arabia was obligated to reveal the identity of everyone involved and called for the prosecution of those responsible to happen in Turkey.

Erdogan called on Saudi Arabia’s leaders, including the king, to accede to a Turkish trial for the suspects. "My proposal to the Saudis is that the 15 plus three -- 18 -- people who were arrested should be tried on our soil, in Istanbul."

Saudi officials said Friday, more than two weeks after Khashoggi’s disappearance, that the journalist died in a fight at the consulate.

Over the weekend, the Saudis' explanation continued to evolve with a Saudi official's telling ABC News that Khashoggi died when he was "placed in a chokehold position" to stop him from leaving the consulate and calling for help.

On Monday, CNN received surveillance videos from a senior Turkish official that appeared to show a member of the 15-person Saudi squad dressed in Khashoggi's clothes the same day the journalist went missing.

Then, a Saudi official told ABC News that the team of men who met Khashoggi at the consulate was acting on orders from the Saudi intelligence agency, GIP. According to the official, the mission involved taking Khashoggi to a safe house for 48 hours in order to pressure him to return to Saudi Arabia.

President Donald Trump on Monday told reporters he wasn't satisfied with the Saudis' response to Khashoggi's death, adding, "I'm not satisfied with what I've heard."

"I don't want to lose all of that investment that's being made in our country," the president added.

CIA Director Gina Haspel headed to Turkey on Monday to address the investigation of Khashoggi's death, two sources confirmed to ABC News.

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh on Monday to discuss American-Saudi strategic partnerships, according to the Saudi Press Agency. Saudi Arabia has said that the crown prince was not involved in the mission against Khashoggi.

Erdogan in his address to Parliament on Tuesday criticized the conflicting explanations of Khashoggi's killing and asked why Khashoggi’s body has still not been recovered. </s> Istanbul, Turkey (CNN) Recordings related to Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi's death have been passed on to Saudi Arabia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and France, Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Saturday.

Khashoggi was killed after he entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2 to obtain paperwork for his marriage.

Speaking before his departure to Paris for World War I commemorations, Erdogan said: "We passed on the recordings. We gave them to Saudi Arabia, to America, to the Germans, French and the English -- we gave them all."

He did not elaborate on what was on the recordings.

US President Donald Trump and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sat next to each other at the dinner hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron Saturday evening in Paris.

Erdogan said the killer, or killers, would be known to the 18 suspects identified by Turkish authorities -- including 15 men who arrived from Saudi Arabia shortly before Khashoggi's death.

Read More </s> Officials from Saudi Arabia, the United States, Germany, France and Britain have listened to audio recordings related to the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey’s president said.

In the first public acknowledgement of the existence of tapes of the killing, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also told reporters that Saudi Arabia had to “act fairly” and disclose those responsible for the October 2 killing of The Washington Post journalist to rid itself of “suspicion”.

“We gave them the tapes. We gave them to Saudi Arabia, to America, to the Germans, the French, to the British, to all of them,” Mr Erdogan said before departing for Paris to attend ceremonies marking the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War.

“They (Saudi officials) also listened to the conversations and they know. There is no need to distort this. They know for certain who among the 15 is the killer or are the killers,” he said.

He was referring to an alleged 15-member assassination squad that Turkey believes was sent to kill Mr Khashoggi at the consulate where he had arrived to obtain papers to marry his Turkish fiancee. Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Saudi Arabia had to ‘act fairly’ (Ian Langsdon/Pool Photo via AP)

CIA director Gina Haspel, who visited Turkey last month for information on the investigation, is reported to have heard the audio recordings of the killing.

The existence of the recordings was leaked to the media but never openly confirmed until now.

Turkey says Mr Khashoggi, who was critical of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was strangled and dismembered at the consulate as part of a premeditated killing.

Media reports have suggested that his body could have been chemically dissolved.

Turkey is seeking the extradition of 18 suspects who have been detained in Saudi Arabia, so they can be put on trial in Turkey. They include the 15 members of the alleged assassination squad.

Saudi Arabia had insisted for weeks after Mr Khashoggi disappeared that he had walked out of the consulate, before changing its account to say he died in a brawl.

Last month, Saudi Arabia acknowledged that Turkish evidence indicates that Mr Khashoggi’s killing was premeditated, shifting its explanation in an apparent effort to ease international outrage over the death.

Saudi officials characterise the killing as a rogue operation carried out by Saudi agents who exceeded their authority.

Yet some of those implicated in the killing are close to the crown prince, including a member of the prince’s entourage on foreign trips who was seen at the consulate before Mr Khashoggi’s slaying.

Mr Erdogan accused Saudi Arabia’s chief prosecutor, who was sent to Istanbul last month as part of a joint probe, of employing “delaying tactics”.

“Saudi Arabia needs to accept that (the killer) is among the 18 and needs to get rid of the suspicion by responding to Turkey’s good will and acting fairly,” Mr Erdogan said. </s> ANKARA, Turkey (AP) - The Latest on the killing of writer Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul (all times local):

A Turkish prosecutor says Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was strangled as soon as he entered the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul as part of a premeditated killing, and his body was dismembered and disposed of.

A statement from chief Istanbul prosecutor Irfan Fidan's office also said Wednesday that discussions with Saudi chief prosecutor Saud al-Mojeb have yielded no "concrete results" despite "good-willed efforts" by Turkey to uncover the truth.

The statement is the first public confirmation by a Turkish official that Khashoggi was strangled and dismembered after he entered the Saudi Consulate on Oct. 2 to collect paperwork needed to marry his Turkish fiancee.

Saudi Arabia's top prosecutor Saud al-Mojeb, center left, leaves his hotel to go to his country's consulate in Istanbul, Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2018. The Turkish fiancee of slain journalist Jamal Khashoggi has called on U.S. President Donald Trump and other leaders to ensure that his death in Istanbul is not covered up, while Saudi Arabia's top prosecutor on Tuesday visited the Saudi Consulate where officials from his government killed the writer. (Can Erok/DHA via AP)

Turkish media reports say Saudi Arabia's top prosecutor, who is in Istanbul for discussions on the killing of Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi, has met with Turkish intelligence officials.

Private DHA news agency said Wednesday the prosecutor, Saud al-Mojeb, paid a midnight visit to the Turkish intelligence agency's Istanbul headquarters. Officials were not immediately available to comment.

Turkey is seeking the extradition of 18 Saudi suspects detained in Saudi Arabia over the killing of Khashoggi in the Saudi Consulate after he entered the building on Oct. 2. It is also pressing Saudi Arabia for information concerning Khashoggi's remains, which still haven't been found, as well as who ordered the journalist's slaying.

Saudi officials have said the kingdom will try the 18 and bring them to justice after the investigation is complete.

Saudi Arabia's top prosecutor Saud al-Mojeb leaves his country's consulate in Istanbul, Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2018. The Turkish fiancee of slain journalist Jamal Khashoggi has called on U.S. President Donald Trump and other leaders to ensure that his death in Istanbul is not covered up, while Saudi Arabia's top prosecutor on Tuesday visited the Saudi Consulate where officials from his government killed the writer. (Can Erok/DHA via AP) </s> ISTANBUL (AP) — Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was strangled as soon as he entered the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul as part of a premeditated killing, and his body was dismembered before it was removed, a top Turkish prosecutor said Wednesday.

Chief Istanbul prosecutor Irfan Fidan's office also said in a statement that discussions with Saudi chief prosecutor Saud al-Mojeb yielded "no concrete result" despite Turkey's "good-intentioned efforts to reveal the truth."

The statement was the first public confirmation by a Turkish official that Khashoggi was strangled and mutilated after he entered the Saudi Consulate on Oct. 2. It also pointed to a lack of cooperation from Saudi officials in the investigation of the slaying.

"In accordance with plans made in advance, the victim, Jamal Khashoggi, was strangled and killed immediately after entering the Consulate General of Saudi Arabia," the prosecutor's office said.

"The victim Jamal Khashoggi's body was dismembered and destroyed following his death by suffocation again, in line with the advance plans," the two-page statement read.

Turkey is seeking the extradition of 18 suspects in the journalist's slaying who were detained in Saudi Arabia. It also is pressing Saudi Arabia for information about who ordered Khashoggi's killing and the location of his remains.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called on Riyadh to disclose the identity of an alleged local collaborator said to have been involved in getting rid of Khashoggi's body.

Saudi chief prosecutor al-Mojeb met with Fidan twice and also visited the Turkish intelligence agency's Istanbul headquarters this week before leaving for Riyadh on a private jet Wednesday.

Saudi Arabia has not commented directly on the prosecutor's visit and al-Mojeb did not respond to journalists' questions at the airport as he departed.

Fidan's office said the Saudi delegation submitted a written statement and invited the Turkish delegation to come to Saudi Arabia bringing "evidence obtained during the course of the investigation."

The Saudi representatives said the whereabouts of Khashoggi's remains and whether the killing was premeditated or not would only come to light through a joint interrogation by Turkish and Saudi investigators, according to the statement.

The statement said Turkey renewed its request for the 18 suspects to be extradited. It did not say if Turkish officials would travel to Saudi Arabia.

Khashoggi, a 59-year-old columnist for The Washington Post, vanished after entering the consulate in Istanbul to pick up paperwork he needed for his upcoming marriage. His Turkish fiancee was waiting for him outside. A critic of the Saudi crown prince, Khashoggi had been living in exile in the United States.

Turkey alleges a Saudi hit squad from Saudi Arabia — including a member of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's entourage during a trip to the United States— went to Istanbul to kill the journalist and then tried to cover it up.

Under mounting pressure, Saudi Arabia changed its narrative about Khashoggi's killing several times, eventually admitting Khashoggi died inside the consulate. Saudi Arabia only recently acknowledged Turkish evidence showed the slaying was premeditated.

Hurriyet newspaper columnist Abdulkadir Selvi, who is known to be close to the Turkish government, said the Saudi prosecutor revealed nothing new to Turkish investigators during his three-day visit and left with several questions unanswered.

"Rather than share the information he has, the Saudi prosecutor tried to learn what information and evidence Turkey has in its hands," Selvi wrote Wednesday.

He added: "The chief prosecutor is not trying to shed light on the murder, he is trying to save the crown prince."
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan rejects the Saudi Arabian government's official account of the killing of Saudi-American journalist Jamal Khashoggi in a widely publicised address before the Turkish parliament.