Jamal Khashoggi: Timeline of Saudi journalist’s disappearance in Turkey

Jamal Khashoggi, a prominent Saudi Arabian journalist, remains missing two weeks after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. The 59-year-old is feared to have been murdered, although Riyadh maintains that these allegations are “absolutely false and baseless”.

Mr Khashoggi had lived in exile in Washington for more than a year, writing a column for The Washington Post in which he regularly criticised his country’s crackdown on dissent, its war in Yemen and sanctions it had imposed on Qatar.

Turkey has had strained relations with Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Arab states since June 2017, when Ankara stood by Qatar in a regional row. Some Arab states, following Saudi Arabia’s lead, cut trade and diplomatic ties with Qatar over alleged links to terrorism, which Doha denies.

Here is a timeline of Mr Khashoggi’s disappearance and the subsequent investigation.

Mr Khashoggi visits the Saudi consulate in Istanbul at 1.14pm local time, seeking the documents he needs in order to marry his Turkish fiancée, Hatice Cengiz. He is greeted by an official and taken to the consulate general’s office for his appointment.

Ms Cengiz waits outside the building for several hours, holding Mr Khashoggi’s two mobile phones, but he does not re-emerge. Ms Cengiz then phones the Turkish police to raise concerns about her partner’s safety. CCTV footage taken at 5.33pm shows her pacing around outside the consulate and speaking on her phone.

Saudi Arabia’s government issues a statement confirming that Mr Khashoggi is missing, but says that he left the consulate building after the appointment. Ms Cengiz rejects the claim, telling Reuters: “If this was true, where is he? Where is he? If he went home, no, I went to the house and didn’t find him. Where is Jamal?”

Meanwhile, a spokesman for Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan says that the journalist is still inside the consulate. “Our relevant authorities are in contact and engaged in negotiations with their counterparts,” he says. “I hope this issue will be resolved with ease.”

Turkey summons the Saudi ambassador in Ankara to the foreign ministry to discuss Mr Khashoggi’s disappearance. The Washington Post, Mr Khashoggi’s employer, raises concerns about the situation. Fred Hiatt, the newspaper’s editorial page editor, says in a statement: “We have reached out to anyone we think might be able to help locate him and assure his safety, including US, Turkish and Saudi officials.”

Saudi Arabia says that it will allow Turkey to search its consulate in Istanbul for Mr Khashoggi. The Arab state’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, tells Bloomberg: “The premises are sovereign territory, but we will allow them to enter and search and do whatever they want to do. We have nothing to hide.”

Two Turkish officials say they believe Mr Khashoggi was killed inside the consulate. “The initial assessment of the Turkish police is that Mr Khashoggi has been killed at the consulate of Saudi Arabia in Istanbul,” one source says. “We believe that the murder was premeditated and the body was subsequently moved out of the consulate.”

Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the US, Prince Khalid bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, denies that the journalist was killed or detained. He says: “I assure you that the reports that suggest that Jamal Khashoggi went missing in the consulate in Istanbul or that the Kingdom’s authorities have detained him or killed him are absolutely false and baseless.”

Donald Trump says he would be “very upset and angry” if the Saudi authorities were to be found responsible. “It’s being investigated, it’s being looked at very, very strongly,” the US president tells 60 Minutes. “They deny it – they deny it every way you can imagine. In the not too distant future I think we’ll know the answer.”

Turkey’s Foreign Ministry announces that an “inspection” of the Saudi consulate in Istanbul will take place this afternoon. A ministry official said the inspection would be carried out by both Turkish and Saudi officials.