Erdogan vows to bring those behind journalist Jamal Khashoggi murder to justice

Turkey will not allow those responsible for the killing of dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi to evade justice, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday, putting pressure on the Saudi elite.

"We are determined not to allow a cover-up of the murder and to make sure all those responsible, from those who ordered it to those who carried it out, will not be allowed to avoid justice," he told a judiciary symposium in Ankara.

Khashoggi, a vocal critic of the kingdom's crown prince, disappeared after a visit to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2.

Riyadh denied having any knowledge of what had happened to the 59-year-old journalist until Saturday, when it said that Khashoggi died in the consulate during a "fistfight." The kingdom's foreign minister later described the death as "murder" carried out in a "rogue operation."

Erdogan dismissed Riyadh's account of Khashoggi's death on Tuesday, saying Saudi officials had planned the killing days before it happened.

Also on Tuesday, local media reported that Turkish authorities conducted searches of a villa near Istanbul and a car believed to belong to the Saudi consulate in connection with Khashoggi's case.

State news agency Anadolu said police recovered "two luggages and various materials" which they believed belonged to consulate workers. The report would not specify on the nature of the findings.

The whereabouts of Khashoggi's body remain unknown