Mohammed al-Otaibi, the Saudi consul general, apparently left on a 2pm flight as security forces set up barricades outside\u00a0his residence in the city<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n It comes as police who searched the nearby Saudi consulate found evidence dissident writer Jamal Khashoggi died there, according to a senior Turkish official.<\/p>\n Saudi Mr Khashoggi, a 60-year-old US resident, has not been seen since entering the building on 2 October to get documents for his wedding.<\/p>\n Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has suggested parts of the consulate had been repainted since the disappearance of the journalist, who was a critic of the Saudi regime.<\/p>\n Mr Erdogan said: “The investigation is looking into many things such as toxic materials and those materials being removed by painting them over.”<\/p>\n There are claims that Mr Mr Khashoggi was killed and dismembered inside the building by a\u00a015-member Saudi “assassination squad”<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n Saudi Arabia previously called the allegation “baseless”, but reports suggest they may admit he died during a botched interrogation.<\/p>\n US President Donald Trump sent his\u00a0top diplomat, secretary of state Mike Pompeo, to Riyadh<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0to discuss the incident with King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.<\/p>\n After speaking to Prince Mohammed himself on the phone, Mr Trump said the royal “totally denied any knowledge of what took place in their Turkish consulate”.<\/p>\n The crown prince “told me that he has already started, and will rapidly expand, a full and complete investigation into this matter. Answers will be forthcoming shortly,” the president said in a tweet.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n On Monday, Mr Trump said Saudi leader King Salman denied “any knowledge of whatever may have happened” during a phone call.<\/p>\n But the president also said “rogue killers” could be behind the disappearance and that King Salman had told him Saudi Arabia is “working closely with Turkey to find answers”.<\/p>\n CCTV footage showed diplomatic cars travelled to the consul general’s Istanbul home shortly after Mr Khashoggi disappeared.<\/p>\n Until Monday, Riyadh had not allowed Turkish investigators to search the consulate, with reports both sides were at odds over the conditions.<\/p>\n The investigators, who eventually searched the premises for eight hours, took samples with them, including soil from the consulate garden, according to an official at the scene.<\/p>\n Forensic vehicles also took away a metal door from the garden.<\/p>\n The international community has demanded Riyadh provide clear answers over Mr Khashoggi’s case.<\/p>\n Germany, Britain and France issued a joint statement over the weekend expressing “grave concern”, calling for a credible investigation to ensure those responsible for the disappearance “are held to account”.<\/p>\n Mr Khashoggi appeared regularly on Arab talk shows and moved to Washington last year.<\/p>\n He had been critical of Prince Mohammed, who has cracked down on dissent with arrests.<\/p>\n Sky News. \u201cMissing Journalist: Top Saudi Diplomat ‘Leaves Turkey’ before Istanbul Home Due to Be Searched.\u201d\u00a0Sky News<\/i>, 16 Oct. 2018, news.sky.com\/story\/missing-journalist-top-saudi-diplomat-leaves-turkey-before-istanbul-home-set-to-be-searched-11527437.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Saudi Arabia’s top diplomat in Istanbul has reportedly left Turkey, hours after it was announced his official residence would be searched in connection with a journalist’s disappearance. Mohammed al-Otaibi, the Saudi consul general, apparently left on a 2pm flight as security forces set up barricades outside\u00a0his residence in the city. It comes as police who searched the nearby Saudi consulate… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2204"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2204\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2205,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2204\/revisions\/2205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}