His remarks came one day after Saudi Arabia’s chief prosecutor, Saud al-Mojeb, departed Istanbul after a three-day visit in which he held at least two meetings with his Turkish counterpart. That visit, Turkish officials said, has been a source of frustration for Turkish investigators probing the death of Khashoggi, who was killed in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul last month.

AD

AD

Turkey’s public prosecutor, exasperated by Mojeb’s refusal to answer questions, prepared a last-minute statement Wednesday detailing how Khashoggi was killed, officials said. This revealed for the first time that he was strangled almost immediately after he entered the consulate.

In the statement, the Turkish prosecutor, Irfan Fidan, said the Saudi visit produced “no concrete results.”

“It was to let the world know that there had been no cooperation, no collaboration” on the part of the Saudi delegation, a senior Turkish official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss deliberations over the statement.

The Saudi prosecutor, the official said, “did not come to share what evidence they have. So it created a lack of trust.”

AD

Saudi officials have refrained from commenting on the talks between the Saudi prosecutor and Turkish officials.

AD

Khashoggi, 59, was once close to the Saudi royal family but fell out of favor with the rise of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Khashoggi fled Saudi Arabia last year and was living in exile in the United States, where he wrote for The Washington Post’s Global Opinions section.

He traveled to Turkey last month to obtain paperwork in preparation for his marriage to Hatice Cengiz, his Turkish fiancee, and was last seen entering the consulate Oct. 2.

For weeks, Saudi officials denied any knowledge of Khashoggi’s whereabouts but eventually acknowledged that he was killed by a team of Saudi agents, who flew to Turkey earlier that day.

AD

Turkey’s prosecutor asked his Saudi counterpart key questions about the killing “but did not receive a reply,” said Gul. “We expect these questions to be answered as soon as possible,” he said, adding that Turkey would “deepen” its investigation if Saudi officials failed to adequately respond.

AD

Turkish officials had wanted the Saudi delegation to reveal the location of Khashoggi’s body, identify what Saudi officials said was a “local collaborator” who disposed of the remains and reveal who ordered the killing. At the very least, the Turkish official said, Fidan expected the Saudi prosecutor to provide statements from the suspects. Saudi authorities last month said they had arrested 18 people for their alleged involvement Khashoggi’s death.

But, the official said, the Saudi delegation “didn’t share anything that wasn’t already known.”

AD

“This resistance to providing information, it makes it seem like they are trying to protect someone — someone they want kept out of the investigation,” he said.

What irked investigators most, according to the official, was Mojeb’s interest in accessing Khashoggi’s cellphones. “It seemed that they were looking for his contacts and who he spoke to,” the official said. “We are afraid that if this information is shared with Saudi Arabia, Khashoggi’s friends would be in danger.”

AD

According to Abdulkadir Selvi, a columnist for Turkey’s Hurriyet newspaper who is close to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Mojeb also asked repeatedly to listen to an audio that Turkish officials say reveals what transpired inside the consulate. Turkey has played the audio for CIA Director Gina Haspel but has not released it publicly.

AD

Turkey says that the killing of Khashoggi was premeditated and that the investigation could implicate senior Saudi officials in the plot. Turkish investigators have gradually released information, apparently in part to pressure the Saudi leadership to act.

As part of that strategy, officials released video footage of the suspects — including an alleged body double dressed in Khashoggi’s clothes — as evidence of planning.