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| Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi |
Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said he is ready to allow Turkey to search the Saudi consulate in Istanbul following the disappearance this week of prominent Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi who entered the mission.
“The premises are sovereign territory, but we will allow them to enter and search and do whatever they want to do,” Prince Mohammed said in a Bloomberg interview published on Friday. “We have nothing to hide.”
Turkey’s foreign ministry had summoned Saudi Arabia’s ambassador for consultations over the disappearance Khashoggi after he entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
The Saudi envoy was reportedly called in on Wednesday to clarify the whereabouts of Khashoggi, a critic of Riyadh’s foreign policy and its crackdown on dissent who left Saudi Arabia last year saying he feared retribution for his views.
Khashoggi’s fiancée and a close friend said he vanished after entering the Saudi mission in Istanbul on Tuesday.
Saudi Arabia’s Consulate General in Istanbul said in a statement on Wednesday that Khashoggi had left the consulate building shortly after his appointment on Tuesday.
It said the consulate was working with Turkish authorities “to uncover the circumstances” of his disappearance.
President Tayyip Erdogan’s spokesman said on Wednesday Turkey believed Khashoggi was still inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, challenging the Saudi account.
