Turkey expands probe into Khashoggi disappearance

ANKARA: Turkey has expanded the scope of its ongoing probe into Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s disappearance and questioned Turkish employees of the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Friday. 

Khashoggi went missing more than two weeks ago after entering the consulate to obtain documents in relation to a forthcoming marriage. Turkish officials believe he was killed in the building on Oct. 2, but Riyadh has denied the allegations.

In an expanding quest for clues, police searched a forest on the outskirts of Istanbul and a city near the Sea of Marmara for Khashoggi’s remains, two senior Turkish officials said, after tracking the routes of cars that left the Saudi consulate and the consul’s residence on the day he vanished.

Investigators have recovered samples from searches of both buildings which it will analyse for traces of Khashoggi’s DNA.

State-run news agency said 15 employees of the consulate were giving testimony at the Turkish prosecutor’s office.

Consulate employees questioned as witnesses included accountants, technicians and a driver, Anadolu said. The investigation is being carried out by the prosecutor’s terrorism and organised crime bureau, it added.

Turkey said on Friday it had not shared audio recordings purportedly documenting Khashoggi’s murder inside the consulate, dismissing reports it had passed them to the United States.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Ankara had not shared information with any country, adding, “We will share the results that emerge transparently with the whole world.”