Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu on Friday denied that audio recordings involving the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi were shared with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo or any American official, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported.
Speaking exclusively and on condition of anonymity to ABC News, a senior Turkish official on Thursday said Secretary of State Pompeo had heard an alleged audio recording of Khashoggi’s murder inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. He said the recording was played in meetings in Turkey on Wednesday and that Pompeo was given a transcript of the recordings.
“It is out of the question that Turkey has shared any audio recording with Pompeo or any other US official,” said Turkish Foreign Minister Cavuşoğlu.
Khashoggi has not been seen since he walked into the Saudi Consulate General in Istanbul on Oct. 2 to sort out marriage paperwork.
US State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert also denied the claim, saying, “Secretary Pompeo has neither heard a tape nor has he seen a transcript related to Jamal Khashoggi’s disappearance.”
“I don’t have anything to say about that,” Pompeo said on Wednesday when he was asked if he had heard the audio.
Pompeo met on Tuesday with Saudi King Salman and the crown prince seeking to defuse a crisis over missing journalist Khashoggi.
Turkish police Monday searched the consulate for the first time since the disappearance of Khashoggi, a Saudi national and US resident who had become increasingly critical of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.