Pompeo lands in Turkey as new report claims audio proves Saudis tortured journalist

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived in Turkey Wednesday as a new report swirled through the Turkish media claiming that Saudi Arabia’s Counsel General in Istanbul was fully aware that journalist Jamal Khashoggi was being murdered inside the Saudi Consulate there on Oct. 2.

A report by Yeni Safak, a pro-government Turkish newspaper, claimed investigators are in possession of an audio recording from inside the consulate on which Saudi Counsel General Mohammad al-Otaibi can be heard saying — apparently to Mr. Khashoggi — “if you want to live, be quiet!”

The Yeni Safak report went on cite unnamed sources claiming the journalist, a Saudi citizen who was critical of the Saudi royal family, was then tortured and decapitated. The report could not be verified and was just the latest in a series of scandalous claims by Turkish media about the Khashoggi affair.

General Counsel al-Otaibi, meanwhile, is reported to have left Turkey for Riyadh on Tuesday before Turkish investigators began searching his residence in Istanbul as a follow-up to an earlier search of the Saudi Consulate there.

Saudi Arabia’s leaders have vehemently denied the allegations being made in the Turkish media. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and his father, Saudi King Salman, told Mr. Pompeo in Riyadh on Tuesday that they had no knowledge of what happened to Mr. Khashoggi and vowed to carry out an in-depth probe into the journalist’s alleged disappearance at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul two weeks ago.

The latest Turkish media claims came as CNN reported Wednesday that Mr. Khashoggi’s apparent death was the result of a “Saudi mission” organized by a high-ranking officer within the General Intelligence Presidency, Saudi Arabia’s main intelligence service, according to three sources familiar with the case.

One of the sources described the officer as close to the inner circle of Crown Prince Salman, although CNN maintained that it was unclear whether the crown prince authorized an interrogation, abduction or killing of Mr. Khashoggi, a 59-year-old who had lived in self-imposed exile in the United States and written columns critical of the crown prince for The Washington Post over the past year.

Mr. Pompeo was slated to hold meetings in Turkey with high-level Turkish officials Wednesday. It was not clear whether the secretary of state would meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who made headlines Tuesday by claiming the Saudis may have covered up evidence inside the Saudi Consulate in Instabul by “painting” over it.

Before leaving Saudi Arabia for Turkey, Mr. Pompeo issued a statement in which he said he had meetings with Crown Prince Salman, King Salman and Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir and that all three had “strongly denied any knowledge of what took place in their consulate in Istanbul.”

“I emphasized the importance of conducting a thorough, transparent, and timely investigation, and the Saudi leadership pledged to deliver precisely on that,” said Mr. Pompeo, who added Crown Prince Salman personally pledged Saudi Arabia’s “public prosecutor will produce a full and complete conclusion with full transparency for the world to see.”