Turkey slams 'scandal' after UN experts on mission to probe Khashoggi murder denied entry to Saudi consulate

ISTANBUL

A United Nations delegation including the special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary killings was denied entry to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul’s Levent neighborhood on Jan. 29.

Agnes Callamard and the accompanying experts went to the Saudi consulate where Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi disappeared on Oct. 2, 2018. But they were not allowed to enter the compound housing the Saudi consulate, according to local media.

"We just wanted to [get an] over-sense of it and we are respectfully calling on the authorities to give us access," Anadolu Agency quoted Callamard as saying.

On the prospects of entering the consulate building itself, she said: "The request to the Saudi Consulate came quite late, so we need to give them a bit more time to process our request."

"It's a scandal," the ruling Justice and Development Party spokesman Ömer Çelik said after the incident. 

"An international investigation should be launched," he added.

Callamard met Istanbul’s chief prosecutor later on Jan. 29.

"We welcome @AgnesCallamard's visit to Turkey in relation to the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. We still do not know where Khashoggi's body is, who ordered the hit and who the 'local collaborator' was. Justice must be served," Turkish Presidency's Communications Director Fahrettin Altun said in a tweet.