Jamal Khashoggi's disappearance: Turkey asks to search Saudi consulate for clues

Turkey has sought permission to search Saudi Arabia's consulate in Istanbul after a prominent Saudi journalist who criticised the kingdom's rulers went missing last week following a visit to the building.

The request was made after the foreign ministry summoned the Saudi ambassador for a second time over the disappearance of Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi, Turkish television NTV said on Monday.

A Turkish diplomatic source confirmed the Saudi envoy was "invited" to the ministry on Sunday in Ankara and was met by deputy foreign minister Sedat Onal.

"The ambassador was told that we expected full cooperation during the investigation," the source said.

The ambassador was first summoned to the foreign ministry on Wednesday.

Khashoggi, 59, went to the consulate on Tuesday to obtain official documents ahead of his marriage to his Turkish fiancee.

Turkish police said he never left the building, and that a team of around 15 Saudi officials arrived on two flights on Tuesday and were at the consulate at the same time as Khashoggi.

"Based on their initial findings, the police believe that the journalist was killed by a team especially sent to Istanbul and who left the same day," a Turkish government source told AFP on Saturday.

Riyadh insists Khashoggi left the consulate, describing claims that he was killed there as "baseless".

In his first comments over the disappearance, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday said he was awaiting the results of an investigation.

"We hope to have results very quickly," Erdogan said. "I am waiting, with high hopes."

Khashoggi had been critical of some of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's policies and Riyadh's intervention in the war in Yemen.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said on Twitter that if reports of Khashoggi's death were confirmed, "this would constitute a horrific, utterly deplorable, and absolutely unacceptable assault on press freedom".