Pompeo, Erdogan meet amid concerns

Turkey hopes to expand inquiry into Khashoggi case, official says

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday met with visiting US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Ankara, amid the disappearance of a Saudi journalist attracting worldwide concern.

Erdogan received Pompeo on Wednesday morning after the latter's prior visit to Saudi Arabia over the case of missing journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi Washington Post journalist who has been missing since he entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct 2. Khashoggi has not been seen since he stepped inside the consulate to sort out paperwork for his upcoming marriage to a Turkish woman.

No details were immediately released about Pompeo's talks with Erdogan and Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu. The three posed for photos, but said nothing in front of reporters.

Cavusoglu said earlier that Turkey may interrogate officials at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul if needed, underlining the importance of a transparent investigation.

Saudi Arabia has also promised in the same day that no one will be exempt from the enquiry into the disappearance of the journalist, amid increasing speculation in the media that a member of the Saudi royal family might conceivably be held accountable in the case.

"They made a commitment to hold anyone connected to any wrongdoing that may be found accountable for that, whether they are a senior officer or official," Pompeo said.

Pompeo held talks with Saudi Arabia's King Salman and other senior leaders as President Donald Trump dispatched the US top diplomat on an urgent mission to Riyadh to defuse the crisis over Khashoggi's disappearance.

After a full day of talks, a statement from Pompeo and a tweet by Trump said that the Saudi leadership "strongly denied knowledge of what took place" in the consulate, without outright rejecting that an incident occurred.

In his comments to reporters, Pompeo described his talks in Saudi Arabia as "incredibly successful" because, he said, Riyadh had promised a thorough and transparent probe.

United Nations human rights chief Michelle Bachelet called on Tuesday for the lifting of the immunity of officials who might be involved in Khashoggi's disappearance and foreign ministers from the G7 called for a "transparent" probe.

Meanwhile, International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde has also become the latest high-profile figure to withdraw from a major Saudi investment conference next week following Khashoggi's disappearance.

A Turkish investigation team conducted a nine-hour search in the Saudi consulate building in Istanbul on Monday, where the Saudi journalist was last seen entering two weeks ago. Unnamed Turkish officials say a search of the Istanbul Saudi consulate gave more evidence that he was killed there, a claim denied by Saudi officials as "baseless".

Ankara says it is awaiting final permission from Saudi Arabia to search the home of the Saudi consul general in Istanbul. Saudi Arabia has "accepted" a request for a search of the official's residence but had not yet given its final consent, said Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu, speaking to state-run Anadolu Agency on Wednesday.

As soon as a joint consensus is reached, the step to search the residence will be taken, the minister said.

Soylu added that Turkey will manage the issue transparently and open to the world within the measures given by law.

Xinhua and Reuters contributed to this story.

(China Daily 10/18/2018 page11)