Saudi envoy to Ankara says he has no information on journalist’s disappearance

ANKARA — Turkey's foreign ministry has summoned Saudi Arabia's ambassador for consultations over the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi after he entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkish sources said on Thursday.

The ambassador to Ankara said he had no information about journalist Jamal Khashoggi, according to an NTV report on Thursday.

It said Turkey's Deputy Foreign Minister Yavuz Selim Kiran told the ambassador, on Wednesday, that the issue "should be cleared up immediately".

Khashoggi, a critic of Riyadh's foreign policy and its crackdown on dissent, left Saudi Arabia last year saying he feared retribution for his views.

“Yesterday the Saudi ambassador was summoned to the foreign ministry and the issue of Khashoggi was discussed,” one of the sources told Reuters.

“Efforts are being made to clarify allegations about Khashoggi. We believe a positive outcome will emerge. Since yesterday, contacts have been continuing between Turkey and Saudi Arabia to overcome the problem related to Khashoggi,” they said.

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. No one at the Saudi embassy in Ankara was available to comment on Thursday and an official at the consulate, asked about the envoy’s summons, referred back to the statement.

Khashoggi’s disappearance could complicate already fraught ties between Ankara and Riyadh. Turkey has supported the Gulf state of Qatar in its prolonged stand-off with Saudi Arabia and its allies, sending troops to Qatar last year.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s spokesman said on Wednesday Turkey believed Khashoggi was still inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, challenging the Saudi account.

Turkey has avoided public criticism of Saudi Arabia, a regional economic power due to its oil wealth and home of Islam’s two holiest shrines.