National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan to visit Saudi Arabia to smooth ties

Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was critical of the kingdom’s policies and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was killed at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Turkish officials claim that a 15-man team tortured, killed and dismembered the writer, while Saudi Arabia claims he died in a “brawl”.

Here are some key moments from the assassination of the Washington Post columnist:

BEFORE HIS DISAPPEARANCE

September 2017: The Post publishes Khashoggi’s first column in its newspaper, in which the former royal court insider and long-time journalist writes about his voluntary exile in the United States following the rise of Prince Mohammed. His following chronicles criticize the prince and the leadership of the kingdom.

September 28, 2018: More than a year after the publication of his first column in the Post, Khashoggi goes to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, looking for documents in order to get married. He was then told to return on October 2, his fiancee Hatice Cengiz said. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that a plan or “road map” to kill Khashoggi was devised in Saudi Arabia during this period.

September 29: Khashoggi travels to London and speaks at a conference.

October 1st: Khashoggi returns to Istanbul. At around 4:30 p.m., a three-person Saudi team arrives in Istanbul on a scheduled flight, checks in at their hotels and then goes to the consulate, according to Erdogan. The Turkish president said another group of consulate officials visited a forest on the outskirts of Istanbul and the nearby town of Yalova on a “reconnaissance” trip.

THE DAY OF HIS DISAPPEARANCE

3:28 am: October 2: A private jet arrives at Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport carrying members of what Turkish media will call a 15-member Saudi “assassination squad”. The rest of the team arrive on two commercial flights in the afternoon. Erdogan says the team includes Saudi security and intelligence officials and a forensic expert. They meet at the Saudi consulate. One of the first things they do is dismantle a hard drive connected to the consulate’s camera system, the president said.

11:50 am: Khashoggi is called to confirm his consulate appointment later today, Erdogan said.

13:14: Surveillance footage later leaked to Turkish media shows Khashoggi entering the main entrance to the Saudi consulate. No footage made public ever shows him leaving. His fiancee waits outside, pacing for hours.

3:07 p.m .: Surveillance footage shows vehicles with diplomatic license plates leaving the Saudi consulate for the consul general’s home about 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) away.

5:50 p.m .: Khashoggi’s fiancee is alerting authorities, saying he may have been forcibly detained inside the consulate or something serious may have happened to him, according to Erdogan.

7 p.m .: A private plane from Saudi Arabia carries six members of the suspected Saudi squad from Istanbul to Cairo, before returning to Riyadh the next day.

11 o’clock in the evening: Seven members of the so-called Saudi team set off on another private jet for Dubai, United Arab Emirates, which returns to Riyadh the next day. Two others depart on commercial flights.

Erdogan confirms reports that a “double body” – a man wearing Khashoggi’s clothes, glasses and beard – leaves the consulate building for Riyadh with another person on a scheduled flight later in the day.

INITIAL RESPONSE

October 3: Khashoggi’s fiancée and the Post make his disappearance public. Saudi Arabia says Khashoggi visited the consulate and left shortly after. Turkish officials suggest Khashoggi may still be at the consulate. Prince Mohammed told Bloomberg: “We have nothing to hide.”

October 4: Saudi Arabia told its state news agency that the consulate was conducting “follow-up procedures and coordination with local Turkish authorities to uncover the circumstances of Jamal Khashoggi’s disappearance after he left the consulate building.” .

October 5: The Post publishes a blank column in its newspaper in solidarity with Khashoggi, titled: “A Missing Voice”.

October 6: The Post, citing unnamed Turkish officials, reports that Khashoggi may have been killed at the consulate in a “planned murder” by a Saudi team.

October 7: A friend of Khashoggi told the AP that officials told him the writer was killed at the consulate. The consulate rejects what it calls “baseless allegations”.

October 8: Saudi Arabia’s Ambassador to Turkey is summoned for Khashoggi’s disappearance and alleged murder.

VIDEO LEAK

October 9: Turkey said it would search the Saudi consulate for a photo of Khashoggi entering the surfaces of the diplomatic post.

October 10: Surveillance footage is leaked of Khashoggi and the alleged Saudi squad that killed him. Khashoggi’s fiancee asks President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump for help.

October 11: Turkish media describe the Saudi squad as comprising royal guards, intelligence officers, soldiers and an autopsy expert. Trump calls Khashoggi’s disappearance a “bad situation” and promises to get to the bottom of it.

October 12: Trump once again commits to finding out what happened to Khashoggi.

October 13: A pro-government newspaper reports that Turkish officials have an audio recording of Khashoggi’s alleged murder from his Apple Watch, but the details of the report are in question.

INTERNATIONAL CLAIM

October 14: Trump says “we’re going to get to the bottom of this, and there will be tough penalties” if Saudi Arabia is involved. The kingdom responds with a virulent attack on those who threaten it, as the director of a satellite news channel owned by Saudi Arabia suggests that the country could retaliate with its oil exports. The Saudi stock market plunges to 7% at one point.

October 15: A Turkish forensic team enters and searches the Saudi consulate, an extraordinary development as such diplomatic posts are considered sovereign soil. Trump suggests after an appeal with Saudi King Salman that “rogue killers” could be responsible for the alleged murder of Khashoggi. Trump has said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will travel to the Middle East for the matter. Meanwhile, business leaders say they will not attend an economic summit in the kingdom, designed by Prince Mohammed.

October 16: A senior Turkish official told the PA that “some evidence” was found in the Saudi consulate proving that Khashoggi was killed there. Pompeo arrives for meetings in Saudi Arabia with King Salman and Prince Mohammed. Meanwhile, Trump likens the case to the appointment of Brett Kavanaugh, now a Supreme Court justice, at his confirmation hearing, saying: “It came away with you are guilty until proven guilty.”

October 17: Pompeo meets with the President and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey in the Turkish capital, Ankara. Turkish police raided the official residence of the Saudi Consul General in Istanbul and carried out a second search of the consulate.

October 18: A leaked surveillance photo shows a member of Prince Mohammed’s entourage entered the consulate just before Khashoggi disappeared there.

October 20: Saudi Arabia admits for the first time that Khashoggi was killed at the consulate, claiming he was killed during a “brawl”. This claim arouses immediate skepticism from the kingdom’s Western allies, especially in the US Congress.

October 22: A report says that a member of Prince Mohammed’s entourage made four calls to the royal office around the time Khashoggi was killed. Police search a vehicle belonging to the Saudi consulate parked in an underground garage in Istanbul.

CCTV appears showing a Saudi intelligence officer wearing a fake beard and Jamal Khashoggi’s clothes and glasses on the day he went missing.

October 23: Erdogan said Saudi officials murdered Khashoggi after days of planning his death, demanding that Saudi Arabia reveal the identities of everyone involved.

25 october: Changing their story again, Saudi prosecutors say Khashoggi’s murder was a premeditated crime.

November 2: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says the order to kill Khashoggi came from the highest levels of the Saudi government. Earlier that same day, Yasin Aktay, the ruling party’s adviser to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said he believed the body must have been dissolved in acid.

November 4: Khashoggi’s sons Salah and Abdullah Khashoggi are appealing for his remains to be returned so that he can be buried in Saudi Arabia.

November 10: President Erdogan said Turkey had given the audio recordings linked to the murder to “Saudi Arabia, Washington, the Germans, the French, the British”.

November 13: Turkish media report that the luggage carried by the Saudi squad included scissors, defibrillators and syringes that could have been used against Khashoggi.

November 15: The Saudi Arabian prosecutor has announced that he is seeking the death penalty for five of the 11 suspects charged with the murder. Shalaan al-Shalaan said the person who ordered the murder was the head of the negotiating team sent to repatriate him, and exonerated Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman. The same day, the US Treasury announced sanctions against 17 Saudi officials, including the consul general in Turkey, Mohammed Alotaibi.

November 16: A CIA assessment reported in the Washington Post reveals that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the assassination.

November 18: Germany bans 18 Saudi nationals suspected of being linked to the murder from entering the European Schengen area without borders. Berlin also says it has halted previously approved arms exports to Saudi Arabia amid the fallout.