Saudis cooperating: Erdogan – IMF postpones Saudi stop

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ISTANBUL, Oct 17, (Agencies): US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had made clear in talks in Ankara that Saudi officials were cooperating with Turkey’s investigation into missing journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

“He made clear that the Saudis had cooperated with the investigation that the Turks are engaged in and that they’re going to share information that they learn with the Saudis as well,” Pompeo told reporters aboard his plane after he left Turkey.

“There have been a couple of delays but they seemed pretty confident that the Saudis would permit them to do the things they need to do to complete their thorough and complete investigation,” he said. US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he does not want to walk away from Saudi Arabia despite ongoing concerns about Khashoggi, and reiterated his hopes that Saudi’s royal leaders were not involved in his disappearance. “I do not want to do that,” Trump said in an interview on Fox Business Network when asked if the United States would walk away from its Gulf ally. Turkish police, meanwhile, began a search at the residence of the Saudi consul to Istanbul, in the investigation into the disappearance of Khashoggi at the Kingdom’s consulate in the city, according to an AFP correspondent. A team of a dozen police and prosecutors, including forensics experts in white overalls, entered the residence of Mohammed al-Otaibi, a day after he fl ew out of Istanbul for Riyadh. Earlier in the day, a Saudi delegation had also arrived at the building to take part in what is presented as a joint search with their Turkish counterparts.

Turkish police had on Monday searched the consulate building itself for over eight hours, taking away soil and DNA samples for further examination. Khashoggi, a former regime insider who became critical of Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, wrote articles for titles including the Washington Post. He has not been seen since he stepped inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct 2.

Turkish officials have said they believe he was killed there although this has not been confirmed by Saudi Arabia. Al-Otaibi left for Riyadh on a scheduled Saudia flight Tuesday afternoon, with Ankara insisting he had not been expelled.

International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde has postponed a planned trip to the Middle East with a stop in Saudi Arabia for an investment conference, after a prominent journalist’s disappearance. “The Managing Director’s previously scheduled trip to the Middle East region is being deferred,” an IMF spokesman said in a statement, without further explanation.

Lagarde had been set to participate in the Kingdom’s Future Investment Initiative conference that has been boycotted by global business and media leaders since the suspected death of Khashoggi, who was last seen at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct 2.

On Saturday, during the IMF’s annual meetings in Bali, Lagarde had said that she would travel to Riyadh for the gathering next week. “Human rights, freedom of information are essential rights and horrifying things have been reported and I am horrified,” she told reporters at the time. “But I have to conduct the business of the IMF in all corners in the world and with many governments.

“When I visit a country, I always speak my mind … So at this point of time my intention is to not change my plans and to be very attentive to the information that is coming out in the next few days.” But there have since been growing accusations against top levels of the conservative Kingdom over the Khashoggi case, triggering a diplomatic crisis. Turkish authorities say the journalist was killed inside the Saudi consulate by a group of hitmen traveling from Riyadh, which has insisted without evidence that Khashoggi disappeared after leaving the consulate.

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