Turkey says it has not shared Khashoggi audio with anyone

Turkey has not shared audio recordings said to document the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, its foreign minister said today, dismissing reports it had passed them on to the United States.

Saudi Arabia has denied Turkish allegations that Khashoggi was murdered and his body removed from the consulate after he entered on 2 October.

Turkish pro-government newspaper Yeni Safak has published what it said were details from the audio, including that his torturers severed Khashoggi’s fingers during an interrogation and later beheaded and dismembered him.

ABC News, citing a senior Turkish official, reported yesterday that the recording had been played for US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during his visit to Ankara a day earlier and that he was given a transcript.

Read: ‘Suspicious’ death of Saudi agent in Khashoggi case, Turkish news says

Pompeo denied the report, telling reporters: “I’ve heard no tape, I’ve seen no transcript.”

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters during a trip to Albania: “Turkey has not given a voice recording to Pompeo or any other American official.”

“We will share the results that emerge transparently with the whole world. We have not shared any information at all with any country,” he added.

Turkish police meanwhile are searching a forest on the outskirts of Istanbul and a city near the Sea of Marmara for Khashoggi’s remains, two senior Turkish officials told Reuters yesterday.

Read: Accused of torturing Khashoggi to death, who is Tubaigy?