Disappearance of a journalist in Turkey: NGOs call for punishment Riyadh

• Tweeter

• republish

Human rights activists hold photos of missing journalist Jamal Khashoggi at a demonstration in front of the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 9, 2018. REUTERS / Osman Orsal

While the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi has not given any sign of life for a week, after having crossed the door of the consulate of his country in Istanbul, the Turkish authorities, which lean for the thesis of an assassination of this critical pen of the Riyadh regime, received on Tuesday the official authorization to carry out a search in the diplomatic enclosure. An announcement that does not satisfy the human rights activists, who call on Ankara to punish the Saudi authorities.

With our correspondent in Istanbul, Anne Andlauer

In front of the Saudi Arabian consulate, in the midst of the skyscrapers of this business district in central Istanbul, human rights activists take turns in demanding, both in Riyadh and in Ankara, the truth about the fate of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

" The Turkish state shares with the authorities of the Saudi Arabian consulate the responsibility for the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi , on its territory, points Gülseren Yoleri, president of the Association of Human Rights . The consulate of Saudi Arabia will not escape by allowing the search of the building. It is up to them to prove that Jamal was not ill-treated at the consulate and that he came out safe and sound. "

Opposition MP Sezgin Tanrikulu, who chairs the Human Rights Commission in the Turkish Parliament, calls for the government to immediately impose sanctions against Saudi Arabia: " The government must immediately review its diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia, declare his consul persona non grata and recall the Turkish ambassador to Saudi Arabia. The eyes of the world are fixed on us. The Turkish government must urgently break the silence and take concrete measures. "

But Ankara prefers, for the moment, to wait for the conclusions of the judicial investigation. Findings that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan plans to announce in person.