Saudi officials have denied Turkish authorities permission to inspect a well in the garden of the consulate in Istanbul where Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi was killed earlier this month, Turkey’s state-run news agency reported Wednesday.
It was unclear when police had sought access to the well as part of their inquiry into Khashoggi’s murder. Both Saudi and Turkish officials say Khashoggi, a writer and government critic living in exile, died inside the consulate when he entered Oct. 2.
Turkey says that Khashoggi’s death was the result of a murder plot implicating high-level Saudi officials. Saudi Arabia’s government has denied that charge and said Khashoggi was killed accidentally in a fistfight with agents sent to negotiate his return to the kingdom. Khashoggi was living in exile in the United States and had planned to move to Istanbul and marry his Turkish fiancee.
Wednesday’s dispute over the garden comes as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has also stepped up the pressure on the Saudi leadership to take action against those responsible for Khashoggi’s death.
“We are determined not to allow a coverup of this murder and to make sure all those responsible – from those who ordered it to those who carried it out – will not be allowed to avoid justice,” Erdogan said at a speech in Ankara Wednesday, news agencies reported.
Erdogan’s remarks came one day after the president addressed lawmakers from his own party and provided the most detailed timeline yet of the days and hours leading up to Khashoggi’s killing.
